The New World
by Tankou001
Summary: In a World where the dead walk there are those who would destroy the zombie menace. This is not their story. This is the story of the new World and the government instated when gods put mortals in their position. M For drug use, citrus, gore... Context...
1. The Legacy of Eight

The New World

A Crossover

Hey All! Tankou001 here with an all new fanfiction! It's called The New World and it signifies the most major crossover work I will probably ever do. I've actually thought a lot on this fic. It's going to have four completely different women from four completely different anime/manga and four different men, also all from different anime/manga. It took me a while to think on the characters and anime I would be using in this fic but I've come out to find out a good portion of them and will work actively on coming up with them even as I am writing the Author's Note!

First Thing You Should Know! I do not own any of the main eight characters. They belong to their own respective creators, whomsoever those creators may be and I take no credit for their existence. However, the rest of the story, with a few key exceptions, is all my work. The characters and references that they make to their worlds belong to their creators. Everything else is mine and mine alone.

All of the characters in this fic, no matter what age they were in their anime, are all at least 18 in this fic for the sole purpose of lemon involvement and all that good stuff. Actual ages will be described in the story!

Hmm... No, I don't think I'll even do anything beyond that. You can be surprised by what this story involves. XP

ENJOY!

{HR}

Chapter One: The Legacy Of Eight

At one point in time there were many worlds. In some of them ninja flourished and in some of them were home to cataclysm. Some were as any normal human plane would have been thought to be; the standard hustle and bustle of everyday modern society. In one world people turned into weapons while other people used them and in one of them the world's catastrophes had been evaded thanks to heroes of great ability and generosity. One way or another, all of the worlds continued perfectly. However, one day a wave swept through the planes of existence. The wave was unseen, unheard, unfelt even. Still, it was there and, slowly in the nights and days of the various planes, it took eight people and sent them away. Even some very powerful people, with talents still yet unknown to the cosmos, were swept away by this divine wave that stole people from their place.

And so there was a room. One by one, ever so slowly, people arrived. The first was a man named Akimichi Chouji. He had been in a battle with a mortal enemy but there had been a killing blow coming for him. Last thing he had remembered he should have been dead. However, there he was, healthy and able, sitting in front of a mid-sized coffee table. He sat on the floor and looked over the table, which there were several items on. Suddenly, as he went to reach for one, another appeared.

This one was a woman; one of great power and prestige. She wore a tight outfit of assorted fabrics, all very fancy and expensive. She was The Dimensional Witch Yuko; a woman who connected through time and space into all other worlds, though not to this one. She arrived fully awake and able, like Chouji. However she wasn't quite as shaken up by her sudden presence in this room. She looked around and then down onto the table, discovering pipes and brownies and cookies and other delicious looking snack foods. There were eight different specific implements on the table, all of the variety to smoke from. Next to each implement was a small glass container that held a good amount of green vegetation. It was in buds, sticky and green with a powerful yet alluring scent.

Chouji looked at Yuko and Yuko back at him. They stayed silent for a moment before Chouji started to open his mouth. Yuko, however, cut him off. She said, "Whoever you may be, I think we have been invited here to partake of what is in front of us. I suggest we talk over it." Without any further hesitation she reached past a little sign that said _Enjoy!_ On it and grabbed a brownie, biting into it with a pleased noise, "Oh these are delicious!" Yuko said with a smile, looking back to Chouji. "So who are-"

Yuko stopped speaking as another individual popped into existence in front of them. He wasn't too tall but he was striking in appearance, a picture of masculinity and physical prowess. He had spiky muted blue hair with what seemed several scar-like tattoos adorning his body, all in the shape of stars. In fact, stars seemed to adorn his figure in several places. He seemed, at that point, to be striking a victory pose. However, he noticed quickly that he was not where he had been and looked around, "Wait, who the hell are you guys?"

Yuko looked up at the man and spoke up. She said, "I suggest you take a seat, Young Man. What are your names? Mine is Yuko. Please, Boy, take a seat and enjoy what we have been given. I have a feeling there will be more coming soon."

The young man looked stupidly at Yuko for a second before looking around and then, finally, sitting and grabbing a nearby piece of cake, which had a greenish hint to the otherwise white cake substance. "I'm Blackstar, The one who surpassed god! I guess it's kinda amazing to be around such a big man like myself, huh?" Blackstar hadn't changed since when he had been younger in Death Weapon Meister Academy. His friend, Tsubaki, had remained his weapon and closest ally but she wasn't there anymore Where had she been? She was somewhat taller but not tall by the standards of a man. However, Blackstar was nothing if not attractive.

Chouji spoke up, "Akimichi Chouji, Jounin of Konohagakure No Sato. Where do you think we are?"

Yuko shrugged. "I couldn't know. I cannot sense anything outside of this room. We are clearly dealing with someone much more powerful than any of us." Yuko held her hand up momentarily and, suddenly, another person popped into existence.

The new person was yet another woman, not particularly tall, unlike Yuko, but definitely striking in appearance. She wore little glasses and a white lab coat. Under her coat were a skirt and shirt of simple design. Her red hair was long and somewhat untamed and, in her hand, a small bag was held. She looked absolutely lost. She looked slowly around her. "Where have I come to?" She asked, observing slowly her surroundings. "I am," She started, more to herself than the others, as she sat down in front of the table, "Francois Edward Wong How Pepilou Tivruski III. I was born," Edward went off for a bit of her personal information. The rest watched while consuming various baked goods that had been on the table. Yuko and Chouji both grabbed the pipes in front of them and loaded them, taking lighters from beside the glass containers and lighting the pipes.

Blackstar was the first to speak after Edward seemed done, "What the hell is going on here?" he asked in slight outrage, "I know it's hard to believe that a big man like myself wouldn't know this but I'm stumped."

"It appears," Yuko started, "That we, as well as others, are being pulled from their planes of existence and pulled into this dimension. I suggest we wait until we find out who else is coming before we continue talking about this. The key here is to keep calm and make sure the others who do come, if any, know to keep calm as well."

Next popped into existence a tall man with spiky blond hair and a pair of orange-yellow glasses with a trench coat of red. He looked puzzled, and then around. Then he shrugged and reached into his coat pocket to pull out a box of doughnuts and sat down at the table to dig into them. He didn't bother asking questions, for his wasn't as unbelievable as he had seen. Vash The Stampede had seen some pretty crazy things in his life. How was this so different?

Edward finally spoke up. "So I have been taken to another dimension? I doubt I would have been hurt or else they would have brought me back." Everyone looked at her. "Do you think more are coming?"

As if answering her question another person showed up. This one was a female of tall stature and wore a purple body outfit, made with s lits at just the right places for full mobility. In her hand was the most enormous fuuma shuriken anyone had ever seen, as tall as her from end to end. Her eyes were squinted, almost shut. Her hair was brown and somewhat unkempt but it had a style it's own. Behind her a floor length pony tail hung. Her ankles and wrists were tied with bandages and on her feet were simple ninja sandals. This was Nagase Kaede. She looked around for a moment and then spoke up, "That was interesting." She said with a dull smile on her face, "Who all are you?"

"I think we can take care of this after the others arrive, should they appear at all. Have a seat and have some of these lovely treats. None of us know where we are so it would be best just to wait for an explanation." Yuko answered.

Ed spoke again, as Kaede sat down and grabbed for a brownie, "What do you think are in those brownies?"

Chouji picked up yet another and bit into it. "Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, butter, Delta-9 THC, cinnamon, numerous other minor products."

Ed nodded and looked at the brownies. "I'm not sure..."

"Why not?" Vash asked, reaching forward to take a break from his doughnuts, chewing down into one of the fragrant brownies. "They taste great."

"Because The Complex wouldn't approve of the ingestion of cannabis." Ed replied, still looking at the brownies and the pipe in front of her.

"Something tells me," Yuko said slowly, an air of seriousness about her, "That whatever The Complex is, you'll not have to worry about it... I don't think we are going to leave this world, wherever it is, for a very long time."

Another person appeared, this one tall and with a similar trench coat to Vash's but it was more like a cape of red, ragged and alive. His left arm wore a great arm gauntlet of brassy color with clawed fingers. His hair was long and black and his face dark and cold, though still feeling. He turned to Yuko and pulled out a pistol with three barrels, pointing it at her face. Yuko rose an eyebrow and Vincent Valentine hesitated. This was not where Vincent had been. He had remembered being in the Northern Crater, fighting a group of bounty heads. One of them had used a materia that he didn't recognize and pointed a finger at him. Vincent had thought he would have been fast enough to get rid of him but he wasn't. Vincent suddenly came back to the world, realizing that all eyes, and hands, were on him. Yuko sat exactly where she was as Vincent was forcibly seated where he stood next to the table by Blackstar, Kaede, Chouji, and Vash. He had beaten less by himself before but, somehow, this was off. He had the feeling he wanted some answers and, for once, shooting didn't seem like the answer.

Yuko said, "Well that was a bit of a scary experience. I think I'll need to be granting you a wish at some point. But that is for later." Yuko took a long draw from the pipe that had been in front of her; a long, fine glass pipe that had a deep, narrow bowl and deep red color. The stem was curved in a U shape, with the pipe's bowl a bit lower than the mouthpiece, which curved flat at the tip to make smoking it easier. She held it for a second and then spoke, the smoke roiling out of her mouth as she did so, "I don't think I was the one you were planning on looking at when you drew your gun, was I?"

Vincent said nothing, looking around the room and at the table covered in various cannabis goodies. He had no idea what had happened. What had become of The Planet?

"We should wait just a bit longer," Yuko said, demanding the attention of the people in the room. Finally others were also starting to pay attention to the pipes in front of them. Chouji had a heavy pipe with thick glass, just see-through enough to be able to see the smoke inside but not too clearly. It was clunky but deceptive. Numerous shades of red and gray adorned the pipe with some white blurs around the long, large bowled piece. It was about two feet long and could have probably been beat over someone's head without receiving too much damage. He had been smoking from it for some time and his eyes had reddened significantly since.

Ed's pipe was a little transparent green pipe, a simple hash spoon. It was about three inches long and had little red speckles surrounding it. Vincent's pipe, incidentally, was a fancifully blown glass pipe shaped like a magnum pistol, the carb for air regulation on the side was on the trigger and the bowl on the hammer. It was meant to be smoked from the tip with the thumb on the trigger. The handle held water with a tube from the bowl going down. It seemed well able to stand upright on handle and barrel as well. Vash's was shaped like a silver cross with a bit of water in the bottom and smoked from the horizontal bar with the carb on the other side. It was a pendant as well, with a long silver chain. Blackstar's pipe had four different bowls, a party related pipe for when friends were around. However, there were little corks attached on small platinum chains that he could plug the excess bowls with and smoke from just one. It was mounted on a golden chain. Kaede's pipe was a fully operable knife with a pipe attachment in the pommel so that she could smoke it from the handle and light it at the hilt. Finally, there was an eighth pipe at an empty space on the table that waited. It was a pipe that was strange in shape, oblong and with funny cloud shapes built into it where smoke would flow through. It was a very pale purple and you could see through it quite easily. The end was completely open.

Yuko looked to everybody for a moment, "I think we only have one person left to arrive."

As Yuko continued smoking, as well as most people starting, the room began to get smoky up at the ceiling. They all watched the last seat and, in some time, two things showed up. One was a young woman with just below shoulder length hair and a vacant expression on her face. She wore a jacket and deep pink shirt with a black skirt and kneesocks. This was Kasuga Ayumu, also known as Osaka by her friends back home. She had been taking her teacher's exams and had been opening the letter at home if she passed or not but now she was here. She was a bit spacey and made mistakes at times but she had been sure she had passed it. Now, suddenly, she was in front of others, sitting at a table covered in green plant stuff and pipes and baked goods and many other things. One of those things, the new one, was a screen on the center of the table. Words were on it.

It Read:

_Greetings! It's good to see you're acclimating quickly to this setup. You'll have to excuse this little kidnapping but we have news for all of you. You will never go home and you must now do what we ask of you._

_This world is a broken and shattered one. The United Coalition Of Existences has taken you from your respective planes of existence and inserted you into the isolated plane in another cosmos entirely. You are all disconnected from your home planes and will never be able to return. However, the versions of yourself that you left behind still exist. All of you had been doing something when you appeared here. Simple or otherwise, you failed at this activity. The people who failed came here, the eight of you. We, from a higher cosmos, have brought you here and bent the will of the planes to arrange for you to have succeeded, replaced by versions of yourself able to do the job. You will not be missed and you will only cause trouble in your return._

_This planet you are on is called Earth; Terra Firma. Some twenty years ago a virus called Solanum broke out in this world and the human population fought and lost against the zombie hordes. Now zombies roam the earth and you are expected to band together, hereby known as The Legacy Of Eight, and begin again civilization by making a settlement out of your new home. The place you are going is in North America, a forest in Oregon, USA. It is a clean zone and no zombies have ever been there, being dozens of miles from the nearest road. It is located near an uncharted mountain that has had heavy and precious metals injected into it through our services and the nearby land is rich in good land and animal life. Life still exists in Oregon as far as humanity goes so it would be good for you to explore and set up a base of operations. You will both be given two one-sided screens to write what you want on. Please write within the lines and legibly. Whatever you need will be provided to you so long as no individual item exceeds the size of a house, which must be built by itself with the aid of other tools, and so long as they are not already living animate beings._

_In this plane of existence all of your powers and abilities work just as well as elsewhere with certain limitations, which you will find out in due time. If you get bitten by a zombie you will die. There is no cure for Solanum and if anyone is bitten they will become a zombie. The only way to completely kill a zombie is by a successful decapitation or head shot. Disembodied heads will still snap at you. Do not eat infected meat. Fend for yourselves and act kindly and with teamwork toward each other._

_Yours,_

_The United Coalition Of Existences_

Yuko was the first to speak, "Well that doesn't seem fun at all... What am I going to do without the finer things in life?" She took the screen and began to write on it.

Chouji began scribbling his own wishes on the screens that appeared in front of everybody. "I think about now would be a good time for everybody to introduce themselves. My name is Akimichi Chouji. Jounin ninja of Konohagakure No Sato in The Fire Country."

Osaka spoke next. "I can't believe I failed my exam!" She put her hands on her face. "What am I gonna do now?"

"You're going to put your big girl panties on and realize that there are more important things to worry about right now" Yuko answered. "My name is Ichihara Yuko. I run a shop in Tokyo that sells wishes to people, so long as they pay the price for their wish."

Vincent was next to speak. "Vincent Valentine, one of the saviors of the Planet and former Shinra laboratory worker. I'm a bounty hunter currently where I come from... or was when I was there."

Ed said, "Francois Edward Wong How Pepilou Tivruski III. Ed for short." Everyone looked at her. "Ed made it up save for Francois. I was a little child on the run when I was young before I got a place to work and live." Ed looked back down at her pipe and drew from it but quickly coughed and waved her hand in front of her face. "It burns." Ed put the pipe down and grabbed a screen, writing on it with one of the many little stylus that adorned the screens that people were writing on.

Vash stared at everybody. "Vash The Stampede; Lover of doughnuts and Warrior for Love And Peace."

Kaede made to speak but Blackstar jumped up an yelled out. "I'm Blackstar! I'm a star! I saved the world and surpassed god! I have this cool friend, Tsubaki, and she's my weapon! I guess.." Blackstar paused for a moment, "I guess she's gone now though..." He went silent for a second and then grabbed the screen, writing on it like the others.

Kaede sighed with a small smile and spoke up. "Who would have thought something as simple as getting to the train on time would have been so crucial? I'm Nagase Kaede ~De Gozaru. Former member Ala Alba of and co-founder of Kage No Deshi ~Gozaruyo."

Finally Osaka spoke up, having been shaken from her fit of panic. "I-I'm just Kasuga Ayumu... I just wanna become a teacher. M-My friends know me as Osaka. Wh-Why is the hapennin ta' me?" She looked down at the two screens in front of her and wrote on them. After a bit of writing she started to say, "Get It Together," repeatedly. This was a coping mechanism so that she could concentrate.

Everybody wrote different things. Yuko put some magical items and certain foods and things of that sort. She also wrote in for a full grow op system with seeds and shoots of various types. Chouji put practical things; building materials and tools, food and water containers, fully stocked. Osaka wrote for books and strange things. Vincent signed up for armaments, ammunition, emergency supplies, stuff of that nature. Blackstar chose things with allure as well as practicality; Large amounts of food, weapons, clothes, a few select comforting items. Vash wrote for alcohol, snack foods, weapon repair kits and many other things that weren't too well put upon. Ed wrote for scientific equipment and some machinery while finally Kaede wrote for tools and things for basic needs like toiletries and bath supplies and a gigantic metal barrel.

After everyone wrote their desires and turned them in the screen in the center of the table read:

_You have all chosen different and good things. Remember, however, that you must employ these times in the best ways or you will be at a loss when it comes time that you need them. To get answers, please ask a question!_

"How will I ever get back home?" Osaka asked.

_You won't._ The screen responded immediately, _Your home is this world. You will never be able to return to your world because there is already a you in that world._

"What about my debt to The Complex, back in my world?" Ed asked

The screen read: _That debt is no longer yours. It is the debt of your alternate self, the one who succeeded whatever it is you did not. Your debt, functionally, is paid. You are free of he Complex but prisoner, now, to the Zombie World._

Chouji leaned in and spoke up, wondering things for himself, "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

_You are,_ The screen read, _Supposed to do whatever you please, so long as you can rebuilt humanity in doing so. However, one thing is for certain. Any ways of life you have in the old worlds, you must forget them. You must be practical about repopulating and reproduction. There isn't a wide variety to go around. Don't be choosy. Aside from simply keeping humanity going and growing against the Zombie Menace you may construct whatever world you desire for yourselves with whatever government you wish to make. Do not attempt to go and defeat the zombie threat. That is already being taken care of by native heroes. Your goal is to repopulate and rebuild civilization in whatever ways you will._

"Well that solves my questions, more or less." Yuko chimed in, a smile on her face. "Except... What's the recipe for these snacks?" The screen showed several different recipes. Yuko looked at them for a bit and he smiled. "No more questions."

"So," Blackstar began, "You said that all our powers and abilities work here, right?" The screen indicated positively, "So does that mean that other Weapons and Meisters exist in this world just like in my world?"

_No,_ the screen read, _Your powers and abilities work in this world as well as the abilities of everyone else. However, that does not mean that, currently, anyone still living in this world knows about them or how the work. Instead you have all been chosen to teach the others of your world's customs and powers so that they may be trained in ways that your worlds my have used against a zombie threat. You will find, however, that the potential for everything is held in everyone on this planet, including yourselves._

"What the hell does that mean?" Blackstar asked with no answer from the screen.

"So what you are saying," Kaede inquired briefly, "Is that we all have to have sex with each other over time to help repopulate?" The screen indicated Yes. Kaede looked to the four men in the room, "I guess it could be worse..." She said with a small smile, returning to her pipe.

"I see a problem in the workings of this plan.." Vincent said solemnly. The screen show a question mark. "Clearly some of us are old and powerful. I am 444 this year. However, some of these people are clearly nowhere near as old as that and possibly a couple who are older. I am immortal so I have no worry of the passage of time but what of the people who are not?"

_Ask Ed!_ read the screen. _ Are we all done?_ Everyone hesitated but, reluctantly, everyone nodded. _ Make sure to keep hold of your pipes and make sure to hold onto your hats. Here we go!_

Suddenly everything blurred around the eight. The table disappeared and so did the room as a whole. Everyone grabbed their pipes quickly and the room changed into a great outdoor forest scene with piles of things like mountains, though all still intact and easily taken care of. A small piece of paper lay on the ground nearby that read: _Work Hard and Good Luck. Make shelter first and work from there. Goodbye New Rulers._

As everyone got up and situated Chouji was the first to see the letter. "I guess we're out here for good then..." He said. He looked around to the piles. Each one had a name plate etched into the ground where the pile stood so it was easy to find. Chouji knew better than to waste time and began digging in his pile of equipment. More or less, everybody's equipment piles were massive. That's what you got for two whole pages worth of requests, some of the people with perfect penmanship and thus even more room to write in requests.

Blackstar came up behind Chouji and spoke up. "So what are you up to?"

"What's it look like?" Chouji asked as he pulled at a gigantic metal box with wheels, "I'm making us a house. Unless anyone else here knows practical construction and architecture, I'd say it's a pretty good idea."

"Ya," Blackstar continued. "I don't know much about building things, just takin them down."

"I have spent the last nine years outside of humanity on a training trip." Chouji said simply, tugging out a few planks from the pile that was his while everyone else went about their own business with their new personal possessions. "I thought that, when I was finally to get back home I'd see all my friends but an old... friend of mine cut me off and now I'm here..." Chouji paused for a second. "And now I'm stuck here, still away from humanity, still without ever seeing my friends again."

Blackstar thought on his own friends for a moment. Theoretically he was still with them in the other world; at least his alternate was. The same Blackstar who just couldn't do it fast enough. But still. Blackstar had remembered winning against his opponent, quite skillfully, in fact. Tsubaki had been with him the entire time but, apparently, he wasn't that Blackstar anymore. He was a dead man who had been brought elsewhere just as Chouji was, apparently. Maybe the two of them, through that very route, were much alike despite the size and skill differences. "Well, ya know," Blackstar said "I'll be your friend. Chouji, was it? Chouji-kun it'll be! Come on, no use in bein glum, buddy!"

Chouji looked back, his eyes cold, stiff and humorless, "There wouldn't be... if I weren't here." He said simply, pulling a few more planks out of his pile. "But there is definitely," Chouji said as he started growing, "A use in being glum now," He finished as he grew to the size of a four story house. Everyone in the area stopped and stared at Chouji as he became full sized, moving the planks round like toys and tossing up and down a gross of nails in his left hand as he lined up his planks correctly and looked around for a good place. He stood even taller and Blackstar backed off, bumping into Nagase Kaede.

Nagase Kaede was tall for a woman. She was statuesque, fit and athletic. However, unlike Chouji, she did not seem so down. She held a small smile on her face at all times, her eyes squinted near to a close. She looked everywhere and was more or less content just on watching. "Seems like everyone's a bit depressed here... even the giants." She said with a small chuckle.

Blackstar looked her up and down for a moment. "Aren't you gonna help out?" He asked with a grin.

Kaede turned her head and looked Blackstar up and down as he had her. "If I got involved I would be worried about being stepped on ~De Gozaru." She said with a small frown that quickly faded back into her normal smile. "I'm thinking that I have different circumstances than you two do. Sure I'll never see my friends again but it's a bit different in my case... I missed a train ~Gozaruyo."

"And now you're here?" Blackstar asked

"I know ~De Gozarune," Kaede said, shrugging, "Who'da thought it ~Ne?"

"The same sort of thing bodes true for me as well," Yuko's voice came out from behind Blackstar. "I dropped a piece of chocolate cake on the floor and failed to catch it. I'm guessing my alternate is snacking on that delectable baked good as we speak..." Yuko, for a moment, looked very angry but then straightened up. "Still, its not something any of us can control. There is no coincidence, remember this. There is only the inevitable. This was fated to happen to all of us."

Blackstar looked around. Already people were assembling their own things. Ed was moving at high speeds around her pile, pulling things loose and setting them up in an orderly fashion. Osaka was looking at her pile of things and sighing grandly at the collection, unsure of what to do. Unlike everyone else, she seemed positively normal to Blackstar. Vash was digging into his pile of things and tossing out select items while Vincent walked around his pile, locating certain items before removing them and tucking them into his cloak.

Chouji had already started changing what had been his pile into a house. It seemed that, while everyone else ordered a bit of luxury, Chouji did no such thing. He readied everything for survival and survival only, as though he was used to it, as though he hadn't ever stopped being a wild man. He had his tools and amenities but nothing electrical, nothing expendable save for rations and extra meat and such things as that. All of it was for practical use.

Blackstar started at his pile and, after an hour or so it was others who took breaks to talk. Ed stepped from the area of her pile, her joints popping as she stretched. Vash too took a break, his pile having collapsed into itself in Vash's "excavations." Though Chouji was still working on his home, which now was sized at about a two bedroom, single story home, Yuko continued to wait, her pile still neglected. "So, what does everyone plan to do now?" Ed asked as she approached Vash and Yuko. "We all seem to come not only from different worlds but timelines as well."

"It appears to be the case." Yuko agreed. "But I suppose we will certainly all have to learn to live with each other now."

"I, for one," Vash cut in with a smile. "Think this world is amazing" Vash spread his arms out. "It's sad that I had to leave my old home but my old world was a desert planet where people had to eek out a living without water! But here there's nothing but green grass and trees and many things I've never seen before!"

"Oregon," Ed said slowly, looking around, "United States Of America." Ed looked at her wrist, which lit blue and said some words on it in some strange language. "The two-thousand-thirty-sixth year of the Common Era... After the moon went boom but well before my time happened. I was born on this planet and grew up on it under the watchful eyes of everyone but especially myself. I tapped into my latent talent for hacking and computer programming and later, after the Bebop, I became a member of the Earth Government and enlisted in their prosthetics buyout program. I guess my debt is paid off... so much for my half price card, though..." Ed looked up at the sky to see the early evening sun setting over the forest. "I never guessed, though, that I would ever look into the Earth sky and see something other than meteor rings and falls. It's beautiful to see just blue sky and the pinkish hue of a setting sun without meteorite storms."

"I come from Tokyo," Yuko said slowly. "I owned a shop that specialized in granting wishes..."

"Like finding cures for bad diseases or something?" Ed asked, thinking of her time with it's advanced medical and biological technology.

"Like making a container of doughnuts so large you could swim through it?" Vash said, thinking on the doughnuts now in his hand.

"I suppose it would be both," Yuko agreed and then continued, "But you would be better to look for a doctor or baker in those cases, respectively, rather than come to me. I aided problems in people of a supernatural variety. I helped people find the way they wanted to go, or let them decay because of improper choices. Everyone has a wish and my shop granted them, back when it was to happen. However, this Solanum is beyond my knowledge. I've never heard of it."

"Solanum," Ed piped in, "Is the supposed 'zombie virus' of the twenty-first century. Solanum is a virus that spreads through contact of the blood and is highly contagious and without a cure. It lengthens the electric charges that make dead bodies twitch indefinitely, animating them and making the body completely without need of oxygen. A zombie created by this supposed virus lives about five years and has one thing on it's mind; to eat. The virus is spread by a bite so this is likely a truth in such cases."

"Zombies in my world aren't so bad," Blackstar sounded as he walked by, a big kettle over his shoulder, "My teacher Sid was a zombie but he talked and beat me around the school and did missions and stuff. Guess zombies here are different."

"It would appear as such." Yuko said.

The group went back to work, save for Yuko, of course. It seemed that most of Yuko's things belonged "inside" and Chouji was still making "inside" so she didn't bother to move her things very much. However, for the most part people were just checking out their piles, seeing if everything was actually given, making sure everything was in good condition and organizing it all.

Another hour went by. Chouji had finished the "first floor" of the new home, which must have been home to six rooms all it's own, not including kitchen, two and a half bathrooms, a basement and a few other nice rooms. He was currently working, at a much smaller size now, on the first room of the second floor. He was only marginally larger now than normal, about the height of two men as opposed to the standard one and a quarter that he boasted normally. Yuko stepped up the stars and looked at Chouji. Osaka seemed to be tailing behind her this time around. Chouji continued his work. "Thank you for making this beautiful house for us, Akimichi-san. You've really done us a favor and saved us a lot of trouble."

"Ya," Chouji said with a grimace full of nails, pulling a hammer from his belt and slamming a nail into the wall.

"H-How do ya get so big there, fella?" Osaka asked shyly.

Chouji looked down at Osaka and frowned, the nails still sticking out from his lips. That was the old world. Only Chouji really had the right to such power anymore. "It's a me thing..." Chouji said, turning back to the wall and bracing it as he hammered in another nail. That was the old world. He had no business with ninja work anymore, even if that was just what he was; a ninja.

Osaka found Chouji's reaction, however, a bit disturbing and walked back down the very well made stairs to see someone else. Meanwhile Yuko stayed. "You don't like to talk about yourself, do you, Akimichi-san? You have a wish to be granted and it pains me to say that I am just not equipped as I thought I was. Your wish cannot be granted by anyone." Chouji hesitated and looked down to Yuko, who stood smiling somewhat. "All you wish for is to return home, isn't it?" Yuko asked as she stepped closer. "You're the only one of us all who just wants to be back. Kasuga-san doesn't know what she wants. Nagase-chan doesn't care. Blackstar-kun has already fulfilled his wish, as have Vash-san and Vincent-san. Edward-chan's only wish was to be free of her debt and retain all of her powers, which she has no worry of losing anymore. You are the only one left with a wish that would matter to me and it is one that, sadly, I cannot grant under any circumstances."

Yuko stepped even closer to Chouji and the Akimichi shied slightly, his big form taking a monumental step backward for what was normal. Yuko, however, didn't shy away. She reached forward and put her hand on Chouji's hip, for lack of height to reach any further up. "However, maybe not all wishes are made to be granted. Allow me to stay with you for a time. I understand that this house you make us will have more than enough rooms... But eventually we'll all have to learn to get very comfortable with each other. We have all eternity, after all, but I think you and I would do better to know each other faster than the others."

Chouji looked at Yuko for a moment. "I don't want to make friends, Ichihara-san..." Chouji turned back to his work, hammering in a couple more long nails. "I just want to continue living as I must."

Meanwhile Osaka wandered around the surrounding area, looking for someone who could possibly know what she was going through. Everyone else, so far as she could tell, was extraordinary in some way. Chouji could grow huge and Blackstar was strong and swift. Ed was fast and smart and Osaka had sworn she had seen Kaede split herself into several dozen versions of herself and carry things into the house. Vincent, though somewhat normal, put Osaka ill at ease with his gauntlet and rough attitude and even Yuko was a bit strange for Osaka, if not completely odd. Who could realize what Osaka saw wrong with this setting?

As she walked through the woods to figure things out she ran into someone, a red trench coat and spiky blond hair. As she fell it was Vash who caught her. " Careful there, Missy." He said with a grin, hauling her with ease back to her feet. "You don't want to get hurt your first day, do you?"

Osaka was a bit taken aback. She hadn't expected someone so... amiable and yet not completely insane. Kaede was nice but a bit weird and Blackstar, though also nice, was a bit high octane for Osaka to hang around. Still, Vash wasn't so crazy and although a bit mysterious, seemed to enjoy just what normal people did; doughnuts and good times. It was a start back to being a normal girl, Osaka guessed. "I-I'm Ayumu. D-Darn pleased to meetchya." Osaka stuttered out with a forced smile. She was still tense. Maybe this man would try to eat her or something. Maybe he was a freak. She would hate that.

Vash looked down at Osaka and smiled, extending a hand. "Vash The Stampede. It's a pleasure, Ayumu-chan."

"S-So?" Osaka asked dumbly, "Vash-san or Stampede-san?"

"Just Vash will do," Vash grinned.

Osaka couldn't believe it. This man seemed positively normal! Sure he had a weird name but he was shaking her hand and smiling and he wasn't doing things no human could do! That was for sure! "Vash it is." Osaka said with a small smile.

Back in camp everyone was gradually starting to get their things into the house and claim rooms. Kaede had done the job of assigning Blackstar and her to room "#1," which Blackstar seemed puzzled at but suddenly froze up and nodded as Kaede dragged him into the room. Chouji politely declined any room for that night, insisting that work needed doing before any rain was to appear and catch him off guard, not having yet painted or anything like that.

Ed, strangely enough, said no to the offer of a room and began digging out under the house; at a ridiculous pace at that. Vincent followed her. "Alright you hear me?" Ed said, tapping her jawline with a finger as Vincent approached.

Not exactly knowing what to say at Ed's speech, Vincent replied. "Yes."

Ed turned and looked at him before shaking her head. "Sorry, not you Vincent-san. I'm speaking to Akimichi-san over a dermal radio." Ed placed her finger at her jaw again. "Ya, just send them on down through the walls. I'll get the taken care of once you do the boring." Ed paused for a moment, as though in concentration, "Wait! It grows, not extends, right? I don't know anything about this crazy ninja stuff you do. Metal, right?"

Ed screamed, however, as metal lengths of pipe blasted through the ceiling of her "cellar" and into the ground below. Ed swore loudly as she was soaked with water. Vincent neared her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Ed shook her hair out, which made her already wild hair a bit more wild and shook water on Vincent. "Sorry bout that, Vincent-san. All this new stuff is making me go insane. Akimichi-san said he would be able to get everything from electricity to water working in this place but I have my doubts as to what exactly this Ninjutsu stuff is. Can he really keep it going over time and how does it even work. The law of Conservation of Matter is pretty against this, I'm sure."

"It does seem difficult, even by the standards of magic." Vincent said with a frown.

"Ugh, and I've got even more magic to deal with..." Ed said exasperated, "Even the science of elsewhere is beyond my understanding, much less the magic or, in Osaka-Saka's place, the normal world. I think I can only deal with so much weirdness for so long before my wetware gives up?"

Vincent cocked his head to the side a bit. "Wetware?" He asked.

"Back in my time, in my world I was a laboratory researcher and prosthetics engineer. I made fake body parts and did time rejuvenation on people and stuff like that in an underground complex. Wetware is like cybernetics but with actual functioning body tissue, seamlessly woven into your actual DNA to work better than the real thing. No part of my body is actually original anymore, from the lungs to the eyes to the reproductive system but all of it is still very much mine. While I do have to change in every once in a while I'll have the ability to replicate the machines back home and make this into a functional science lab and home for all of us for as long as we need it."

"So," Vincent asked, "You can make people anyway they want?"

"We could," Ed answered simply as she sped out and came back in with some sort of plumber's kit on, a belt at her hip and a hat on her head with a light. "Back in The Complex we had a full staff of people who knew what they were doing. I have the full archives, incidentally, on these new machines, but this is an endeavor unto itself. After all of the settling in is done I'll have to wire in everything, run diagnostics, check circuits, make sure that Akimichi-san's magic is actually what he says it is and then finally get things running. After that I can't be sure everything'll be operational. In fact I guarantee it won't be. Unless I get a few good helpers down here it'll take a few weeks just to get a proper working medical bay open, much less any of the high tech stuff that can replace body parts or decrease physical age."

"So you know how to do some manual labor, at least." Vincent said, sitting down on he stairs to the cellar after stepping away from Ed a bit.

"I live in a world where things move four times faster than they actually do. Needless to say," Ed was cut off as a jet of water sprayed at her and soaked her down thoroughly. "Dammit! Ugh... Anywho... Needless to say I have spent some free time down under reading up on basic household maintenance of the old days. I know a bit of plumbing and a good deal of wiring and electrician work. However, everything down under is made of metal. Akimichi-san really is the be all and end all of architecture and carpentry here up top so far as any of us are concerned. So far as I can tell, none of us have ever had to actually build anything in the architecture department more than a small hut or shack. Akimichi-san seems to have been doing it for years. Even when smaller, he works quick for such a big guy."

I suppose he does," Vincent said, looking up to see a towering Chouji, about two stories tall this time, lifting something into place. "Back in my world I was a savior of mankind more times than one."

"Lucky ducky." Ed said right before getting sprayed with water again.

"I still did work but largely everyone I knew was gone. Both my first love and my second had already died and the children we had as well and then their's. I kind of am glad for the separation from my old word. I don't have to be worried about the chain of loss any longer." Vincent looked down at his feet. "I'm immortal so don't really know much about aging or needing new limbs or anything. I just live."

"You know," Ed said, "There are some people who don't get that option. For most, becoming young again costs an astronomical price back in my world; worse than death for some. Some even go so far as to put their lives in servitude to cater to the debts The Complex puts them through back there. I think, now that you are free as I am, and with all of the things that had to be paid for before, you should look forward to the way that it is. Your old world and this new one; you're going to have to see people die. However, you don't have to be alone, ever. Everyone has the option of keeping the loneliness at bay."

Vincent thought about that for a second. Now that he thought of it, maybe it was true. Maybe he didn't have to even dwell on the past any longer, this was a new world and his old self would remain on The Planet. He could make life anew in this world.

As the night went by the basement was finished, courtesy of Ed and with still provided help by Chouji. As everyone (save for Chouji) settled down in the new living room they found the place oddly packed for a new home. "It would seem," Yuko said smoothly, "That we have too many things tonight. I don't think even Akimichi-san's working pace will allow us the full comfort of having unloaded boxes. Perhaps, for tonight, we should share rooms together and get things sorted out in the morning."

"Not a problem." Kaede piped up first, grabbing Blackstar around the wrist and standing, dragging the poor man to "their" room. Blackstar was, for once in his life, at a loss for words that this woman was showing such attention to sleeping with him. However, Kaede's motives were more for personal comfort than sexuality at this point. No, she didn't plan to jump head first to roll in the hay with anybody in particular but Blackstar was the youngest of the men and seemed like he would be fun to snuggle against at night. At worst he had a wonderful, well muscled body to clutch up against and Kaede, though no scaredy-cat, did appreciate a good strong man to put her own body against at night, no matter how well they may have known each other.

Osaka found a bedroom with Vash that night, the two curling up under separate blankets with separate pillows. It wasn't too far to be cold though not too close to be "steamy." Vash was a true gentleman, of course, not even trying once to peek on Osaka. What proper gentleman, after all, would do that? Vash, however, wasn't all gentlemanliness and propriety in this case. Many thoughts filled his head. Many ideas and notions. He was gone from his old world forever. What about Meryl and Milly? He had gotten all of their guns, though; Milly's Cross Launcher, Meryl's Derringer Cloak, Wolfwood's Metal Cross. He slept with them nearby as well as his gun. He wondered if, because he had ordered the cloak and cross launcher, if Meryl and Milly still had their's. How did requesting items work, after all? Did it take the first or duplicate a new one. Vash drifted off to sleep that night with many questions on his mind and one of them happened to be; What color of panties did Osaka wear? Almost asleep, Vash scolded himself mentally for his lecherousness.

Edward and Vincent slept in the basement, newly finished and installed with plugs in the walls, just like Chouji told Ed to do. Vincent had a good knack for electrical work to a degree so he had helped a bit toward the end after helping move things in most of the day. Ed naturally felt safer sleeping underground as it was and Vincent had no particular reason otherwise so he didn't mind sleeping down with Ed. There was, however, no romance or even any talking between them save for short goodnights. It was a bit awkward, both of them thought privately as they dozed later that night.

Chouji continued his work, now on the third story of the house proper. The second story of the house had three master bedrooms with three master baths attached. Aside from that there wasn't anything else of the second floor. However, each master bedroom had a fireplace and small kitchen attached with them and the bathrooms included both showers and big baths which Ed had already agreed would be equipped with jets as soon as possible. Chouji's idea was, apparently, to make eight different master bedrooms in the home for the party. The soon to be five story tall mansion with attic and two floor basement would have full running water; both hot and cold, ample electricity to last years (though not yet up and running) and full heating circulation in the home with good cold air insulators to keep it from getting too warm in the summer. Chouji knew his craft very well because, out where he had been for the past nine years, he had been given no choice in the matter. It was either learn how to build a suitable home out in the untamed wilderness or try to learn the value of fur, which Chouji hadn't looked forward to at all.

The Dimensional Witch Yuko, however, looked very forward to watching Chouji. While the rest had gone to sleep or were getting to it, Yuko was checking up on Chouji, her new glass pipe in hand, filled with green. She said, "Haven't taken even the smallest of breaks yet, have you?" Chouji looked down at her as he sealed in place the ceiling for the third floor's hallway. However, he soon went back to work. The way he saw it, he was earning some excuse not to talk in this scenario. He was working hard on the home that everyone would come to live in, despite the seriousness of this situation. He didn't need to talk near as much as the others. He would let his actions be words enough. "Of course not," Yuko said with a smile as she drew a long hit from her pipe and sat down outside the walls of the first bit of hallway for the third floor. "You need to help the others in making a new home for all of them. Then you may be able to avoid making things like connections."

Chouji hesitated this time, looking back to Yuko for a moment before grabbing another nail and beginning to hammer it in. "But one way or another," Yuko continued "We'll still be here, whether you like it or not. I understand that while Nagase-chan may be more than eager to make a meal out of Blackstar-kun, you aren't as willing to make connections. You had friends back in your world and now you'll never see them again. It's thanks to a decision you made, isn't it? Well obviously the same rings true for all of us. Don't think that you were the only one to leave things behind when you got here. How long has it been since you've seen your friends?"

"Nine years..." Chouji said simply as he hammered in another nail.

"And how long since you had seen anybody else?" Yuko questioned, "Before the incident."

"Nine years." Chouji repeated truthfully. His rival in training had done the same thing and had beaten him to a meeting location, defeating him after that. They had been strangers when it had started and Chouji had all but forgotten him. Well his rival hadn't forgotten him and when he had tried to to kill Chouji, he had succeeded. Now Chouji was living with that regret.

Oh wow." Yuko said with a bit of surprise. "I hadn't guessed you had really never seen people in that long. This must have been quite the shock." Chouji continued, dropping down from the roof and pulling on another section of wall planks. "But I suppose you wouldn't want to talk about that. After all, it's been so long away from humanity and you had planned on making those tales up for someone a bit... closer, right?"

Chouji turned as Yuko walked to him, still smoking her pipe slowly. "Must you bore at my every insecurity?" Chouji asked angrily, his teeth grinding together. Contrary to popular belief, people didn't get less of a vocabulary over a period of not having anyone to talk with. In fact Chouji had gotten more eloquent with his words. However, after so long not talking to anyone, not having anyone to talk to, Chouji didn't like talking very much and Yuko was right; He had been saving all of those stories for friends.

"Yes, I must,"Yuko said with a smile, "I am going to grant you a wish, Akimichi-san and though not yours, you will appreciate it." Yuko stepped closer to Chouji, who was actually back in normal sized mode and put her hand on his chest with a smile. "How about we take one of those master bedrooms you so skillfully built. I think we won't have to worry about inclement weather tonight. You need some rest anyway."

Chouji hesitated as Yuko touched him. However, for some reason, he felt a bit calmed. Maybe this was just one of the witch's powers. He slowly let his head nod a bit before following Yuko down into one of the master bedrooms. It was one of the fortunate bedrooms upstairs to get a full sized bed already put in it. Everybody had one in their request forms. This bed was Yuko's bed, as a matter of fact. It was deep purple in color with deep blue sheets and crimson pillows. Chouji felt a bit out of place in the room and flinched a bit as Yuko tried to urge him to sit down. He had changed a lot during nine years of intense outdoor training, One of the ways he had changed had been in weight. Though Chouji was now "thinner" than the overweight Akimichi that had left Konoha he had become well over five hundred pounds and rising by such a point. He just used special jutsu to keep his body weight compact against his body, which made a natural armor layer than kept him from most damage. Though he was fit and healthy, he was also very heavy under his clothing.

Yuko looked up at him. "It will take your weight, Akimichi-san," She reassured him as she sat down. "This bed is meant to take the weight of any sleepers." Slowly Chouji let himself sit on the bed and, surprisingly enough, Yuko had been right. The bed took Chouji's weight better than he could have imagined. It was almost like sitting on a cloud. Chouji allowed Yuko to help him strip down his armor and use her shower, which made sure that he didn't smell bad after such a hard day of work. Tomorrow he would finish the place, starting at dawn. As Chouji came out of the bath Yuko lay on the bed, pipe in hand and leaning on her hand at the head of the bed. "Did you enjoy your shower?" She asked, wearing a heavy sort of nightgown. It covered all of the necessary portions of Yuko's body but the neckline was a bit low and the garment was more likely to fall off Yuko's body than any other night garment Chouji had ever seen.

Chouji himself was just wearing a towel and had an extra one to continue drying his great mane of red. He was a bit surprised at Yuko's outfit, to tell the truth. "It was... nice." He said truthfully. Chouji hadn't had what could be considered a good shower in months, years even. Now that Ed had gone through and fixed the house plumbing with Chouji the first two floors worked fine for hot and cold water and great for pressure, as Chouji had used his jutsu to make pipes that extended downward into the natural water sources of the mountain and well out of the range to a good place to put waste, some several miles away and underground.

"Come take a lay down, Akimichi-san. You shouldn't stay standing in the cold air like that too long." Yuko pat the seat next to her. In truth she found Chouji a bit mysterious, even by her standards. Chouji literally hadn't known anything but himself the past nine years and now that he had been plucked from his world he would continue to only know himself. The Dimensional Witch knew that she would have to eventually sleep with Chouji on a much more intimate level than this but she was glad that she could be the one to start this relationship up and see what she couldn't do to help Chouji out in return for a it of compensation on his part later on. It would happen, of course. There was no coincidence, only the Inevitable.

Reluctantly, of course, Chouji laid down. He forgot that he didn't have any other clothes save for in his pile, a pile that he had covered in a stone dome to keep the weather out. He certainly had no plans of going out at this time of the night, nude as the day of his birth when he could get it tomorrow after the warmth of dawn. And just before everyone awoke. He let the towel around his waist slip off as he got in bed. Yuko didn't mind, of course. Chouji still looked muscular. The fat that surrounded his body was far more dense than the average bulk muscle mass. It was steel hard though still very warm. Yuko didn't waste time in pushing herself against Chouji's back as he lay. "You really are tense, Akimichi-san."

"My apologies, Ichihara-san," Chouji said, irritated at Yuko clinging to him. He supposed he just couldn't understand the closeness in this case. He was uncomfortable with the closeness of another human being after so long. He sat up suddenly, remembering a few flashes of his life before his training trip or this. Yuko looked up at him. "I'm just a bit shaken up is all."

"It's been a strange day, Akimichi-san. Please come back to bed. You should take a hit from your pipe and relax." Yuko urged.

Chouji looked at the pipe he had left on Yuko's bedside table before taking a shower. The gray and red with white swirls that could club a man to death it Chouji put the force behind it. It filled him with a sense of security for some reason and, without much hesitation, he drew from it; his finger alight as he willed Katon chakra into being to smoke with. The clouds filled his mind merrily, Chouji getting a small smile from he fumes he breathed that night, Yuko curled up against him and Chouji found a bit of rest in the smoke of cannabis and the small hands of The Dimensional Witch against his large back.

Ed thought she had woke up first the next morning, having less need to sleep than the others. However, she would have been wrong for the first time in a while. Chouji was working right at the first light of dawn. He hadn't been working earlier that night because no noises had been made but Chouji was definitely working now. Ed walked up the stairs and through the third floor hallway, passing a room that Chouji worked on and finding herself on the roof to watch him. "You work hard, I'll give ya that Akimichi-san. But how does it all work?"

Chouji looked down at Ed and shrugged "It's a me thing..."

Ed sighed. "Ya know, I'm giving up all my stuff for the betterment of this group. At least tell me what it is that this ninjutsu stuff does. It seems a lot like magic to me."

Chouji looked back at Ed and then back to his work putting up the first third floor room. "The act of ninja work pertains to three basic forms of which all beginners learn. The first is Ninjutsu. This is the way of the ninja, the art that allows us to perform such techniques." Chouji turned to Ed and put his hands together. "Using seals and occasionally verbal components a human can use the physical and spiritual energy within their body to manipulate the elements or other forces though their will, like making those pipes or water. Taijutsu is what I have long specialized in and is more easily put to hand to hand combat with flare. It involves pushing your body it the physical limit, to break yourself and rebuild how you want it. These are all punches, throws, kicks and the like. That is Taijutsu. Finally there is the art of manipulating the five senses, genjutsu. It's the art of illusion at it's finest and one of the more difficult basic sections to master. After that Kenjutsu; the art of the weapon, Kinjutsu; the forbidden arts and Fuinjutsu; the sealing arts. I'll go into those some other time, when I have less important things to do."

"So you use spiritual and physical energy within your body?" Ed asked. Chouji nodded. "So it's just matter transference?" Chouji nodded again. "Well that's more believable than you made it appear."

"It would be to anyone who hasn't had ninja training before." Chouji said, "However, you're technology is far ahead of the technology in my world. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't seem as much like magic to me as my jutsu must seem to you."

"I suppose I get it." Ed said, nodding slightly. "You need any help there? I'm not too skilled in building homes but I am faster than you probably. I'm sure hammering in a nail couldn't be too difficult, especially at my speeds."

"I'm sure," Chouji started solemnly as he went back to work, "That you can do whatever you like but do you want to take the chance on our first and only shelter when you could just wait for me to get done and try it out on future houses? We'll be sure to need more. I just want to get this home done as son as possible..." Chouji looked down at his pile of equipment, which was very quickly getting smaller as the mansion got larger.

Yuko stepped up the stairway and stretched grandly in the morning light. "Sleep well, Edward-san"

Ed looked at Yuko, who now wore a beautiful kimono of reds and yellows and oranges with other colors spotted marvelously throughout. Slowly the redhead nodded. "Jut talkin to Akimichi-san."

Chouji didn't bother to look at Yuko as he continued to work. "hmm..." Yuko started slowly, leaning forward toward Chouji and smiling slyly, "I think Akimichi-san has a way of working a bit faster than he has been, now that I look at him. Care to show us, Akimichi-san?"

Chouji looked at Yuko and hesitated. "Not the place, Ichihara-san..." Chouji said somberly, "Nor the time..."

"I beg to differ." Yuko said as she stepped closer. "It'll just take more time if you dilly-dally."

Chouji looked back to Yuko, his eyes hardened and cold. Ed sat next to the spectacle, a little confused. The two locked eyes for what must have been several minutes but, at the end, Chouji turned away. "Whatever..." He said,. Putting his hands together and forming several hand seals. An explosion of smoke blew outward and Chouji was suddenly... more Chouji. Twenty identical copies of Chouji now stood next to Ed and Yuko, all somewhat surly and all speeding off to get to work. Ed was amazed and Yuko smug. As the morning light progressively illuminated the land Chouji's copies made quick work of finishing the third and fourth floors. By the time that everyone awoke Chouji had lessened himself to four copies and was working on the fifth and final floor, nailing up the walls and ceiling with attic attached. People were gradually moving in their possessions inside to their respective rooms. Chouji worked until the house was "done" but insisted that finishing touches were needed.

The second day, however, wasn't anything as interesting as the first. Nobody worked after Chouji was done and their belongings had been brought in. Chouji's pile of equipment was much smaller, just some heavy sheets of metal left after Chouji had brought his tool kits and other personal belongings. The group decided that, if they were to live together under one roof they would have to know about each other. Chouji, begrudgingly, came with Yuko to the third floor Grand Room. The third floor was the floor that Chouji had decided would e the "social" area of the house, where everyone would come together and eat and sped time, if that were to happen at all, of course.

In the middle of the Grand Room lie a table of oak with everyone's pipes sitting on them and a few small treats of cannabis related edibles. Bags of green adorned certain parts of the table surface and everyone already sat down, waiting for Chouji to join them. Reluctantly, Chouji sat down on a chair and, hearing the noise it made, sat down on the floor in front of the table. He picked up his pipe and looked around. "A Toast!" Yuko cut into his thoughts, "To The New World and our new lives. Who knew that it would all happen?" With that sad Yuko smoked deep from her pipe.

Osaka was the first to put pipe to lip after this toast and, having never smoked before in her life, was caught off guard by the coughing fit that came to her soon as the smoke hit her lungs. Her throat burned and Ed, who sat across from her, coughed similarly when she took her hit. Vincent didn't seem bothered at all by his pipe, nor Vash nor Blackstar or Kaede. It was just Ed and Osaka who coughed. "Why," Cough Cough, "Does it burn so much?" Osaka asked through her coughing.

"You'll get used to it," Vash said with a smile as he smoked from the cross shaped pipe that hung from his neck.

"You gotta remember though, "Kaede said as she breathed out a cloud of smoke, "They don't have bubblers."

"So tell us about yourselves," Yuko said, smoking more from her pipe. "Kasuga-san? You come from Japan, right?" Osaka nodded as she tried again to smoke from her pipe, this time with a little less lung hacking. "You wanted to be a teacher?"

"I wanted to be a classic literature teacher.." Osaka said somberly, smoking a bit more from her pipe and coughing further. "But I failed ma' test..."

"All people meet failure once or twice in their lifetime." Yuko said, "Don't let it bother y-"

Blackstar picked that very opportunity to make his presence known. He did this by stepping up on the table with one foot and balancing mostly on his chair, "Not me!" He cried out. "I'm Blackstar! I'm a star!"

"Be quiet, Blackstar-bozu." Kaede said, pulling him back into his seat. "You met failure at least once, or you wouldn't be here right now." Blackstar looked at Kaede and, suddenly, sobered up. She was right. "Just smoke something."

Blackstar looked at his pipe, the pipe with four bowls in the shape of a star. "Ya..." He said, uncorking the remaining three bowls and filling them. "I think you're right. Someone help me light this thing." everyone was, more or less, happy to light Blackstar's pipe for him. Within minutes the Meister was rolling on the ground, coughing and laughing and being utterly embarrassing. The room was full of smoke from Blackstar's "heroics" and even Chouji and Vincent let out a couple of chuckles each. Everything was starting to slow down for the group.

Vincent held his pipe, intrigued by the workings of it. It was a bubbler, clearly. Though you smoked it from the front of the barrel, "blowing your head off" when you smoked it. The metaphor was spectacular as the workmanship behind it. He drew deep from it and held it for some time, passing it to another person. Blackstar's pipe was getting quite the reception and Chouji's mace-like piece had Vash and Yuko a bit more excited than they should have been, taking long, drawn out hits from the pipe, filling the chamber to milky white smoke that rolled into their mouths. Coughing fits were not rare at all. Of course, in their inebriation nobody remembered to open the door or the windows, making the hotbox effect that much more effective

That night, after thick smoke filled the room to the floor, everyone talked with each other. Sometimes one of the group would walk out to the kitchen and return later Sometimes someone would leave to the bathroom and stumble in afterward. But everyone paid attention to each other and everyone talked, even Chouji and Vincent, the quietest of the group. Osaka and Ed had gotten past their ridiculous coughing fits and now coughed here and there but not always, just as everyone else. Yuko hung from Vincent's shoulders and Osaka sat on Chouji's shoulder as they walked around and made merry. Kaede eventually found herself, somehow, snuggling up with Vash in the middle of the floor while Ed stumbled around in the protection of Blackstar's equally stoned presence, singing songs that neither one knew but both thought they could have, if they just sang a bit louder, of course.

As the night dragged on munchies hit the party. Chouji managed to find himself a bag of potato chips, a precious reminder of civilization once again in his hands after over nine years of absence from his life. If anything gave the near unconscious Akimichi comfort, it was the snack that he had long left behind. Ed ate what Blackstar did; more ganja treats that they had made up sometime in the past hour. Yuko had some chocolate cake she ha requested from the screen two days before. Vash ate doughnuts, imagine that, while Vincent ate some simple food that included rice, meat and pickled vegetables. Osaka ate a melon bun and Kaede simply drank from a bottle of Sake that she had pulled seemingly out of nowhere.

Before too long, that was to say a few more hours of smoking, eating, drinking and carousing, everyone was ready to fall asleep where they fell. Vash, Osaka and Kaede passed out in a heap on the floor together. Yuko dragged Blackstar to her room and, as high as he was, Blackstar didn't say no. Edward hit the ground right outside the Grand Room, about half way up the stairs to get to her own room on the fourth floor. Chouji and Vincent were the only ones who had the wherewithal to stay awake and, by the time everyone else fell asleep, the two of the had stopped smoking for some time and were very awake. Chouji sat on the roof, looking at the stars while Vincent climbed up after him, stepping up through the hatch to see Chouji. "You're still awake, Chouji?" Vincent asked as he closed the hatch behind him.

Chouji nodded. "I've never seen these stars, none of them." Chouji said simply, looking up at the sky, his head still so cloudy but clear enough to form words. "It's so different from where I came from..." A small smile show on Chouji's face but Vincent could tell, by looking at him, that it was just the green talking. Chouji wasn't happy. Chouji was mourning the loss, not only of his old world, but of the chances he may have had had he not been killed the day he was to return to see his friends. Underneath the glazed over smile was a very sad man an Vincent knew exactly how he felt.

"When I lived in my world," Vincent started, "A man did horrible experiments on me and it made me immortal." Vincent sat down next to Chouji, his mind clear due to the edge that his uniqueness gave him. "I eventually fell in love with someone different than I had originally fallen for. She was much younger than I but I let it happen. However, as time went by she grew older and our children had children of their own and I hadn't aged a day." Chouji looked at Vincent in slight confusion, trying to work out what the red caped man was trying to say. "And then she died and so did our children... and eventually their children and their children. Back where I come from there is nothing left for me. Back where you come from you have friends that were waiting for you. However, you'll never see them again. I can't imagine it any easier for you than losing my loved ones was for me.

Chouji looked at Vincent seriously, even under the haze Chouji now saw where Vincent was going. "Even if we are different, Chouji." Vincent said slowly, "Even if we come from different worlds and derive power from different things I have no doubt that you and I could make very good allies." Vincent hesitated for a moment. "You have no reason to think of me as a friend after only two days of knowing me. However... If you would... it would mean something to me..." Vincent let his hand extend toward Chouji.

Chouji looked down at Vincent's hand and hesitated. This wasn't something he had expected. Yuko had become his partner in crime the night before because she was interested. However, Vincent became his partner in mourning because he knew, at least to some degree, what Chouji felt. Chouji suspected, even, that Vincent knew far more of the hurt that Chouji felt right then. Chouji smiled genuinely for a moment. "Why not... but don't make a big deal of it..." Chouji took Vincent's hand and shook it for a bit. "We should get to bed soon... Goodnight, Vincent-san." With that Chouji stood and walked to the hatch, ducking into the attic and leaving Vincent on the roof alone.

{HR}

There you have it! First Chappie of The New World!

It was a little forced toward the end, admittedly, but I think I finished it up rather well. Whatta ya'lll think? Anywho, please review and please don't flame! I hope everyone agrees with the line-up of characters! They're the only bit of fandom this story will have!

Anyway, I'll let you all get to your stuff and I look forward to your reviews!

Yours,

Tankou001


	2. The First Immigrant

The New World

A Crossover

Hey All! Tankou001 here with an all new chapter of The New World! Hope you liked the first and I hope you will like this one as well! I am trying to get a good deal of the older fics updated as soon as possible because I feel bad for not having paid any attention to them in favor of the newer ones. I gotta finish 'em all, after all XP

As we have seen, the very first bonds of trust and friendship are taking hold in our new party. Chouji finished the house, minus final details and everyone moved their stuff in. Now will be the helping to forge humanity anew! Think someone is gonna get laid soon? I give away no spoilers on that one XP I am sure, however, that some of you aspiring fans of this will be rooting for your own couples. Please feel free to mail me and give me some ideas. I want this fic to be really long so I'll need some help! Ten Tankou points to anybody that can give me appreciable help on this project!

{HR}

Chapter Two: The First Immigrant

Sunlight shown down on Oregon strong in the springtime afternoon. It had been a half a week since the mansion that was "City Hall" had been built. The group had waited for a bit, explored the surrounding area and started cultivating crops with Yuko's instruction. Things were going, so far as anybody could have guessed, as smoothly as they could. They hadn't even seen any zombies yet. Chouji had, if slowly, started to open up to the rest of the group. He and Vincent had started an uneasy but very willing acquaintance while he and Ed strove toward similar goals from different walks of life. She largely lost a good deal of her ability to blend into the scientifics of society but her plumbing skills were truly being put to the test along with her ability to cope with a lack of "life's modern conveniences." Vash was getting along well with everybody. Though a little out of place as far as standard things went, he was a delight to be around and really as happy for a glass of water as any of the others in the party would be for their old worlds. To Vash, this new word was a new beginning, letting him get into a world that could know peace where people never died of thirst.

Kaede got along well with everybody, treating everybody primarily as a team member, with brotherly or sisterly bonds easily made and given to anybody she could. Osaka was making the change very gradually. She was still a bit shaken by this new world that she had never known. So long she had thought fantasy and sci-fi just that. She never thought about it all as a real thing that just took place in a new universe, something she had never thought possible as well. Vash was one of her sole people for guidance since, to her knowledge, he was the most normal person present. He had yet to show her any reason to suspect him as anything other than a normal human, just like her. Little did she know he definitely wasn't.

Blackstar was coping rather well. He was a little more quiet than he had been in his world but he was definitely still Blackstar, definitely still willing to prove a point. Presently, Chouji and Blackstar sparred during a break, testing the abilities of their worlds against one another. Blackstar was loaded down with weaponry, for the most part. On his back a great scythe. Around his waist were two sickles connected with a chain. An enchanted sword, with abilities similar to his old partner in such a mode, waited at his side while a ninja-to sat on the opposite hip. More equipment weighed Blackstar down as well but he probably wasn't planning on using it. Chouji stood in front of him, a small smile of his face as he wore his standard Akimichi plate with chain robe included. He held a small slag hammer with a wooden handle in his left hand and a crowbar in his right.

"So you think you've got what it takes to fight a ninja like myself?" Chouji asked.

"You've gotta be kiddin me," Blackstar said with a smile as he drew out his ninja-to and snapped his fingers. A gigantic metal glove with the word's "Pot O' Thunder" appeared on the final hand and Blackstar smiled as the heavy gauntlet swung beside him. "I'm Blackstar, I'm a star. No way a guy like you is gonna beat such a big man like me."

Chouji chuckled at this. "Blackstar-kun... You really got a funny mouth." Chouji threw his hammer at Blackstar and the meister assassin rolled, his whole body jingling as he did so. Chouji went to one knee and started forming hand seals while his opponent moved in to attack. The timing was close but Blackstar managed to come forward while Chouji was finishing off and swung Pot O' Thunder skyward. The clap would have thrown Chouji backward if he hadn't ducked further down and leaned into the attack. The noise, however, was deafening. Chouji barely kept the composure to see Blackstar coming down with ninja-to to strike. Chouji knew that this was a risk but he couldn't move from the blast of sound. He blocked with his Hitai Ite, the crest splitting down the middle and almost breaking completely.

Chouji's chance paid off. In the stand-off Chouji held his head against the blade and kept Blackstar from pulling back. The look of an opponent staring right into the attacker with a blade against his head would scare some attackers but Chouji knew that Blackstar would just become more foolish. The hammer returned, hitting Blackstar on the back of the head. The assassin stumbled and Chouji rolled sideward, bashing Blackstar in the back with a firm right handed crowbar strike. He grabbed the hammer at his foot and sent it into the ground where Blackstar lay. He hit the ground where Blackstar had been, Chouji's opponent having disappeared away before the attack hit. He pulled the hammer from the dirt and looked around.

"Attack Star!" Blackstar's voice echoed as a star of chains surrounded Chouji. Electricity coursed through him momentarily as the chain tightened around him. The blades gnashed about him as Blackstar came in in front.

Chouji grew and the star didn't. It restricted him. He returned to his seal forming, placing the crowbar in his teeth. "Husky Style: Conpacion Infinitum!" Chouji's gravity increased suddenly. Blackstar moved toward him faster than he had thought. The chains went from their powerful star shape to a mes that impacted with Chouji's body suddenly. The earth below Chouji cratered and cracked, little pieces of rubble lifting up toward Chouji rather than staying put on the ground. Chouji succeeded in making his body's gravitational pull orders of magnitude higher for moments at a time during his training. The goal was to use the weight he did have and use chakra to supplement multiplication of that weight. The goal was to keep the weight and mass compact but use his already monumental weight to make multiplying it less difficult.

Everything hit Chouji, including Blackstar. Blackstar struggled for a second but Chouji, deep within the pile of stuff that had flown toward him, finished another string of hand seals. "Mass Transference: Kai!" Suddenly, everything was airborne, except for Chouji. Blackstar flew threw the air and landed solidly on his feet against a tree trunk, knocking the tree half over with the force of his landing.

Blackstar was loving it, in the meanwhile. He drew his enchanted sword and the old shadow markings crawled across his face and figure. "Let's get one more step above..."

Blackstar and Chouji both turned their heads to the cry and sped toward it, not sure what was happening but wanting to find the source anyway. A zombie, the first any in the group had seen, was chasing a young woman, or at least what looked like one. The young woman wasn't too tall, about four inches past five feet. Ample breasts lay on her chest and what seemed mid back length hair of brown-red made a straight sheet from her head. "We'll take care of our fight later" Chouji said as he raced forward. "Let's be heroes. Don't get bit."

Blackstar smiled and, in an instant, just as the young woman had tripped and fallen into a hole in a tree, the two ninja were on the zombie, who oriented on them just as it was going to bite the new girl. Chouji stepped backward as the zombie went to grab at him. Blackstar filled the gap and sliced the zombie's arms off. Chouji stepped behind it, using Blackstar's distraction, and tore the head clean off the thing. He held the hair of the zombie as the head snapped at the air. "Not very much like the zombies back home." Blackstar said. Chouji tossed the head into the air, formed a couple hand seals and blew fire at the flying head, burning it to ashes in half a second.

"Not very difficult to fight either. Must be a numbers thing normally." Chouji said as he stepped up to the young woman who was currently stuck halfway in a tree. The lower half of the young woman, which Blackstar and Chouji could easily see, was a spectacle of a knee length skirt and polka-dot panties. Chouji looked away and Blackstar blew a bloody nose before walking a bit away as the larger of the men pulled the new girl out.

The woman was pulled out easily and looked up at Blackstar and Chouji, blinking. She opened her mouth but the noise that came out was not of either Chouji or Blackstar's language. "What's she sayin?" Chouji asked as the girl stood up and waved her hands around whilst still speaking.

"Sounds Japanese." Blackstar said.

"Do you know that language?" Chouji asked, never having heard of it.

"Nah, I took German and Russian..." Blackstar said, "And I failed at both."

The girl kept talking in Japanese, which neither Chouji nor Blackstar new at all. Chouji closed his eyes but Blackstar was getting irritated quickly. "How are we supposed to know what she's saying when neither of us speak the language?"

Chouji thought for a second. "Yuko-san said that she ran a shop in Japan, right? Maybe we could bring this girl to her."

"Ya!" Blackstar said, pumping his fist in the air, "Now we got some progress." Slowly but surely the young woman stopped angrily ranting and managed to figure out that she needed to follow Chouji and Blackstar.

As the trio approached home the young woman stared across the starting of a simple village. Chouji had taught the others how to build simple houses and, in order to facilitate the growth of a new, functional civilization, the others had been practicing and building shoddy little homes for any newcomers, which the girl just happened to be. Kaede was the first to spot the two other ninja enter the area. She approached them quickly, a simple smile about her face. "Whose the new girl?"

The girl exploded into speech and, unlike what Chouji and Blackstar thought would happen, Kaede started talking back. Neither of them had known that Kaede could speak the language but they guessed it wasn't so bad. Kaede and the new girl talked for a time and then Kaede turned to the other two. "Her name is Miyuki. She comes from Japan ~De Gozaru. I think we'll need to call a meeting about this ~Gozaruyo."

The day went by and Kaede offered to be Miyuki's "babysitter." Miyuki, so Chouji and Blackstar found out about quickly, was prone to small bouts of extreme irritation. At times she would slam doors and throw things if nothing seemed to be going right for her. She seemed like she had a lot of pent up stress and nowhere to direct it.

It was only a matter of time before Yuko found her way across the newcomer's path. She stood tall above the other woman, looking down at Miyuki with solid, unerring eyes. "Maybe you should come with me, Miyuki-san." Yuko said in Japanese, surprising everyone who knew what she was saying because Miyuki's name hadn't yet been given to Yuko. "Come with me, Kaede-chan. I think we need to talk with this young woman."

Before long Miyuki was taken, with Kaede, up into Yuko's bedroom. Everyone had gotten their rooms situated for the most part. Yuko's room, on the second floor, was already decorated and covered in various magical items the dimensional witch had requested from the screen just over half a week ago. Her bed was on the far wall from the door while a little table stood in the middle of the room with three chairs. Yuko told Miyuki to sit across her and Kaede sat at the side of the table. "Tell me why you are here, Young Miss."

Miyuki, who had been quiet and contemplative until then, suddenly felt rage for some reason and stood bolt upright from her chair. "Why are YOU here?" Miyuki yelled out, brandishing the index finger of her left hand across the table in Yuko's face. "This land is full of zombies? How did this big mansion appear in nowhere?"

"That's not the question I asked, though. " Yuko said simply, unaffected by Miyuki's pointing finger, "We have only just arrived and have plenty of time to tell you our stories. You, however, are the first bit of humanity we have seen in this place aside from ourselves. As we were here before you we can keep this place for ourselves. What are you doing here?"

Miyuki was a bit taken aback. She hadn't expected such a comeback, it seemed. "I came from Japan, twenty years ago." She started, "I had been a normal seventeen year old in high school. I was the vice president of the student council. Then, suddenly, we had heard that America got infested with zombies. Then the government looked around for smart kids like me and took us away from our homes. I was one of the first they did tests on... They said I would be better than I was before and all I got was being a stupid high school student for TWENTY YEARS?" Miyuki kicked her chair backward in rage but the chair stopped in midair and floated back under her. This scared the Japanese girl. "Wh-What was that just now? Chairs don't fly?"

Yuko stood up from her chair as Miyuki continued asking questions. As Miyuki turned Yuko caught her by the face, staring into her eyes as slender fingers crossed the girl's cheeks. "Whatever you knew about what used to be normal has just stopped being valid, young lady. I believe you have a lot to hear about." Yuko guided Miyuki back to her chair and set her down in it, towering above the girl as the Dimensional Witch still stood. "Back where I come from I granted wishes. What is the wish you have, Young Lady?"

Miyuki bristled at this. "That's what I want, to stop being called; Young Lady or anything like it! I'm thirty-seven years old! I want to finally look it!" Miyuki looked down at the table. "But it's twenty years too late for anything like that I suppose. Not like it matters when zombies walk the earth. Twenty years ago they poked me and tested me and tried to find out anything they could about what I could be. Then they gave me a gun and sent me here with a whole bunch of crazies and soldiers and others like me who also had no chance. I barely got out of the boat alive when we arrived. I used the gun best I could and beat the zombies away before I got out. I almost got bit numerous times..."

"I don't know if I can help you look older," Yuko said as she sat back down in her chair, "But this is a place of safety. We are trying to recreate civilization here, the eight people at this estate. The eight people here are not, of course, from this world. We all come from a different world elsewhere, different worlds from each other entirely. We are here because none of us had a choice and are now stuck here to make new lives. You will learn if you choose to stay here and become part of our people."

Miyuki looked at Kaede and then Yuko and then repeated this. "You're not from other worlds..." she said with raised eyebrows. "That stuff just doesn't happen."

"And zombies do?" Kaede asked with a smile as Miyuki jumped a bit. "I missed a train and ended up here. Just like a pop that made you appear. Akimichi-san and Blackstar-kun, who brought you here. They are also from different worlds."

"No way." Miyuki said, still defiant.

Yuko sighed and looked at Miyuki. "Are you sure you want to contest this truth?" Miyuki nodded, "Alright..." Yuko said as, suddenly, the room exploded with purple fog and Yuko's voluminous blue and gray robes spread about the walls and ceiling. Kaede sat patiently and looked around at the parlor trick Yuko was putting on but Miyuki leaped out of her chair and raced for the door, which was already half covered by Yuko's robes. "This is my power, girl?" Yuko's voice boomed out into the room with no effort at all. "I am the Dimensional Witch, Ichihara Yuko. All wishes that cannot be granted by others are brought to me and I will grant any wish, provided the proper payment is made in return."

The room darkened further and Miyuki, who hadn't bothered turning back, began to be covered by Yuko's robes. She struggled but Kaede, after a short bit, spoke up for Yuko to stop and so the witch did. Miyuki was freed from the robe's reach and lay on the floor a moment, paralyzed with fear. Yuko stepped up to her with Kaede and the two helped the woman to her feet. "You see," Kaede said simply, "We are from other worlds, even if you don't believe us. We are, however, stuck here ~De Gozaruna and we are bound to help get civilization back to where it used to be. It is my hope, at least, that we can have people making home here ~Gozaruno."

Miyuki looked to Kaede and then fearfully toward Yuko. She believed, whether she liked it or not. Slowly she nodded. "H-How," She stuttered, "Could I live here?"

"Pull your own weight and be nice." Yuko said simply as she walked back to her bed and drew forth her opium pipe, smoking from it and breathing out a cloud of sweet smoke. She sat down on the edge and put her hand to her head. "Kaede-chan, Darling. Would you be a dear and take Miyuki-san away. I'm suddenly not feeling the best." Kaede nodded and escorted Miyuki from the room. Yuko lay down and smoke from her pipe, sighing a cloud of smoke eventually. She was wearing out slowly but surely. Maybe UCOE hadn't guessed that being thrust from her home like this would have put Yuko at something of a bigger disadvantage than the others. Something told her that this wasn't quite possible since The United Coalition Of Existences surely was based on a higher plane than Yuko knew of. No doubt they knew everything of everyone they sent to this plane. Still the truth remained clear. Yuko, being away from the dimensional net of worlds that she was so used to, lost a good deal of her power being beyond such a system, which she wasn't even aware existed in the beginning. Just that little parlor trick had worn the Dimensional Witch out considerably. She had to set up a nexus as soon as possible, which was difficult to say the least. There was a knock at her door. Yuko sat up quickly and spoke up. "You may enter."

Much to her surprise it was Ed who entered. Ed had been a little sketchy about Yuko ever since they had arrived. To Ed, who had sold all body, mind and soul to science Yuko's existence was, to say the least, a bit disturbing. Yuko was a glitch in the system to Ed more than any other member of the group, a pure manifestation of a "magic user" where everyone else at least didn't excel in the art of "magic." Vincent had artifice, guns and weapons. Chouji had Jutsu, which the ninja swore wasn't magic at all. Blackstar used "Soul transference," which seemed a lot like magic but was apparently a very well balanced science in the world where he came from. Kaede used magic but she didn't flaunt it or anything so Ed could deal with her. However, Yuko was a creature of magic entirely. She flaunted her magical nature wherever she went and, though Ed still disagreed with the term "Magic," she couldn't deny that every time she was in Yuko's presence a creeping energy swallowed her up the whole time. "Can I help you, Ed-san" Yuko asked with a small smile.

"Ya," Ed said, looking around. I want to know about magic..." Ed looked around the room a bit more, "And how it works."

Yuko paused for a moment, smoking her pipe before continuing. "It really depends on the type of magic you want to learn. Before you start using magic you need to know what you will be using it for."

"I don't want to know that though." Ed said, a little irritated. "I just want to learn about magic."

"I don't think," Yuko said, standing up slowly and seductively as Ed let herself be pulled more into Yuko's room, "You quite know what you're talking about." Yuko stepped closer to Ed, the younger of the two looking into Yuko's eyes with quickly fading seriousness. "Magic is the essence of supernatural control, the powder that makes you fly or the idea that makes you build it. There isn't something as simple as asking to teach you magic." Yuko's body and Ed's body pressed slowly together, Yuko leading the movements of the two of them as she leaned down, her face close to Ed's. "If you like, Magic is the subtle control of another human being to cause them to feel something they do not." Yuko continued, her lips just barely brushing against Ed's, the two almost entwined in a cage of sexual tension. "But magic can also be the opening of a young girl's eyes to the fact that she doesn't know all that she may have thought."

Ed snapped back to reality immediately, noticing instantly her closeness to Yuko. She shied away quickly, covering herself up despite the fact that clothes already did that job. Yuko sat back down in the shadowy ambiance of her bed. "Before I came here I thought I knew something about what was going on in the worlds surrounding my own. I was wrong." Yuko drew deep from her opium pipe and reeled in the dizziness that was her gradual weakening. "Call it magic that I now know or call it chance. Regardless, magic isn't something you go into wanting. It is something you seldom have a choice in... at least that is how magic works where I come from, Ed-san."

Ed stood for a moment, staring stupefied at Yuko. She hadn't known what had come over her when Yuko had approached her. She had just let herself go. The looming touch on her lips of Yuko's own lips, the pressing of their bodies against each other, the sexual frustration that now filled Ed's mind. She nodded slowly and turned away, leaving Yuko's room and the dimensional witch behind.

Ed fled down to the basement lower level, the second floor under the house proper. Vincent, as usual, waited down for her. She had been making good progress with the machinery and electronics in the basement and Chouji had worked out how to keep a few of the machines running and powered while he made a permanent battery for everything to run off of. Ed greeted Vincent and went to work. Something bugged her still, though. "What do you get from Yuko-san?" Ed asked, more to herself than Vincent.

"I get a lot of questions and very few answers." Vincent replied simply, lounging on a gigantic conduit that was currently not working. "Yuko-san is an enigma even to someone like me, who has gotten a good bit of time on people like you to figure things out. I normally can tell what sort of person someone is pretty quickly but not this one. She's too much for me to figure out."

Ed sighed and drew from her pocket the pipe that she had gotten the first day. The little green pipe wasn't the most ornate of things but it was interesting enough with the red speckles about it. She took the product from her pocket as well and drew it from the bag, shoving a round nug into the bowl. Ed had, in her time, learned a few tricks that had nothing to do with The Complex. These were magic tricks, nothing different, just a match hidden up the sleeve and snapped in the fingers correctly and it looked like Ed could actually make fire from the tip of her thumb. However, this was nothing in comparison to the very real effects of Chouji heating up his thumb and just pressing against the cannabis in his pipe or like Kaede summoning flame to her fingertips to light hers.

_If magic is real,_ Ed thought to herself as she held in the semi-harsh chamber-fulls of smoke that she had breathed in, _Then I wish it would be as easy as they make it look._ As she stifled the coughs that came to her as she breathed out the smoke she typed into the small screen that was alight to work on. "I wish I could get it..."

Vincent cocked his head a bit. "What's on your mind, Ed?" He asked

"Trying to figure out magic..." Ed said simply, typing with diligence on the keyboard that connected to the screen she looked at. "I don't know what exactly to think about it... Clearly it's real but, whoa..." Ed hit the floor back first, a smile showing on her face.

Vincent stood to see if Ed was alright but, as she rolled to her side, eyes half lidded, to smoke again from her pipe Vincent realized that she was just high. She had smoked the strong stuff right away without noticing it. Ed looked up at Vincent and made an "o" with her lips before bursting into a fit of giggles and smoking again. Vincent realized that he wouldn't get too far with Ed anymore, the tolerance that he flaunted she lacked with the pure innocence of never having dealt with "drugs" unless they were tightly controlled. Vincent knew that, for Ed, this would be an interesting experience; learning her limits with the new substance that everyone in the party seemed to be linked by, if only because it was there when they all arrived.

It had occurred to Vincent that this world was very different from his own. He knew nothing of the geography and neither did most of the group. Yuko and Kaede seemed to all have a pretty good understanding of it since their worlds had been similar to this but Vincent, Chouji and Vash came from different planets entirely while Blackstar was a little under the average on the geography scores, if you knew what that meant. Ed had come from "Earth" but her Earth had been the site of the moon exploding and raining meteorites down on the planet so the comparison was skewed. Osaka probably had the best know-how on geography, though she wasn't quite sure of it all.

Vincent stepped up the stairs to the first basement level and saw Kaede standing with someone new and talking with her. This must have been the new girl that Vincent had gotten word of. Granted Vash had just seen her and told Vincent about it but he had been curious. The new girl, Vincent thought, wasn't bad looking. She looked a little young to wander the zombie infested wasteland. Still, the gunman admittedly hadn't seen the zombies in question. Maybe working about in Zombie world wasn't too difficult. The again, maybe it was a fluke. Crazier ones had indeed happened before. Look at Vincent himself, for example.

Kaede saw Vincent and smiled, waving. "This is Vincent-san ~De Gozaruyo. Vincent-san, This is Miyuki-san. Vincent uses guns ~De Gozaru.

Miyuki bowed and spoke but Vincent didn't understand it. "She says that she is pleased to meet you ~De Gozaru."

Vincent nodded briefly. "Is she staying here?"

"Yes." Kaede said. "She'll learn the language ~De Gozaru."

"I see..." Vincent said plainly. "Kaede, what language are we speaking?"

"English." Kaede said with a funny look, her eyebrow raised over a barely opened eye while the other remained completely closed to Vincent's sight. "I guess that doesn't make much sense to you since England never happened where you're from ~Gozaruna. This is America, where English is used. Since we were all placed here I think it's best ~Gozaruyo."

Vincent nodded slowly and then turned away. "I'm going out into the woods for a while."

"Don't get bit ~De Gozaru." Kaede said as Vincent climbed the stairs before continuing her tour

Vincent nodded again slowly as he closed the hatch. "I'll be sure."

Kaede nodded peaceably as Vincent left. "He's a good guy ~De Gozaru, if a little tense at times."

Miyuki looked up at Kaede. "So what do you do?"

Kaede looked down at Miyuki, something that Miyuki had a hard time accepting since, normally, Kaede's eyes looked closed. "I was a student in Mahora Gakuen University back in my world's Japan."

"Is that all?" Miyuki asked.

"Let's go with that ~De Gozaru." Kaede said with a small grin. "You'll find out in time ~Gozaruyo." Kaede led Miyuki out of the basement and outside. "We hope to make this place a safe place for everyone ~De Gozaruna, that's why we're here. All of us were sent to make civilization again in this world. I assume that we'll make a good one ~Gozarune."

As the two walked about outside Kaede noted Blackstar hammering violently at a small house-like structure nearby. Kaede enjoyed Blackstar's constant urge to do things. He wasn't exactly smart but he didn't ever give up. It reminded her of Kotarou and Negi back in her old world. She also noted Osaka nearby. Blackstar didn't know the language that Miyuki spoke but Osaka had come from her world's Japan, just like Kaede. Maybe she understood Japanese like Miyuki. She guided Miyuki to Osaka and spoke up. "Osaka-san. You care to take this one away from me?"

Osaka turned and looked at Miyuki from afar as the two neared her further. When they came close Osaka reached out and pat Miyuki on the head. "Darn Pleased Ta Meetchya." Miyuki seemed a bit taken aback by this. and blinked in confusion. "Don't worry, Kaede-san." Osaka said, giving a salute. "I'll take good care of her. Please follow me." Osaka wasted no time in grabbing Miyuki by the hand and dragging her off in a chatter of Japanese. Kaede smiled and walked back to her room.

Osaka didn't know this girl but she appeared to at least be from this world and seemed normal. Then again, Vash was the only one to show Osaka that he was normal thus far. Little did Osaka actually know what Vash was or who he had been back in his world. Osaka hoped, if only, that she would be able to find an individual like herself; a normal person in a world with zombies, ninjas, witches, gunmen and all other crazy things that a simple schoolteacher would want nothing to do with. That was why she had been so accepting when Miyuki had been shown to her and passed off. She was Japanese just like Osaka so hopefully it would be something that was accepted, even if the woman only looked like she was a high schooler. Osaka remembered foggily her high school days with her old friends that she had still been in contact with just before her exile to this wacky place. She smiled at it all... Something normal where normal just didn't happen.

"So what part of Japan are you from?" Osaka asked. "I come from Osaka... which is why they call me Osaka, but it's from a different Japan."

"I'm from the Makitaka Prefecture in the capital city." Miyuki said with a small grin.

"I've never heard of that place. What's it like. What side of Tokyo is it?" Osaka asked.

Miyuki halted her walking for a moment. "What do you mean?" Miyuki stepped back to Osaka and looked her in the eyes. "Kyoto is the capital of Japan, not Tokyo."

"Wha?" Osaka asked confused. "That's not true at all. The Japanese made Tokyo the capital after Tokugawa Ieyasu made it the capital."

"That's not true at all." Miyuki protested. "Takeda Aisaka kept Kyoto Castle as the capital. He defeated Oda Nobunaga at the end of the Sengoku era and claimed Japan diplomatically under his control."

Osaka was puzzled. She didn't understand how this world could be so different. Not only did she not know enough about the old wold to become a teacher but she didn't know near anything about tis one, so it seemed. She didn't even know about the history of her own country. She fell slowly into dejection in front of Miyuki, her eyes set sadly on the ground in front of her. It was too much for her to handle. All of these other people either started here or were sent here for reasons of defeat. Osaka hadn't ever had strange occurrences, though she admittedly had always been a bit behind on just about everything. Osaka's pride, however, had been the fact that she as good at wording instances and had a good feeling for the ways of her own country. In this world even her own knowledge that had almost qualified her as a teacher in her home world, wasn't good enough.

"I didn't know... S-Sorry..." Osaka said quietly

Miyuki seemed to pick up quickly on Osaka's insecurity. As a woman that looked like a high schooler and was, in fact, well into her thirties, she understood that panic could set in or that it might be a bit shocking to be so easily outsmarted by someone her size. "I'm sorry. You don't come from... this world,"Miyuki was still having a hard time believing it all, though she supposed the evidence was all too clear in front of her to deny, "But you have all of the others to help you out and it's not like you don't have your own talents, right."Osaka looked at Miyuki and just began crying. Miyuki immediately went to help her. This wasn't turning out well at all.

Meanwhile, Blackstar walked around the new home for everyone. This new world was similar in design to his own. Everything was somewhat the same, though it seemed that some places were distinctly different. He had seen a good few maps in his life. He had, after all, always studied before every test her had ever taken. With his old weapon Tsubaki around it had been hard to not since she lorded over him at all times, trying to make him a more able student. Needless to say, even if he hadn't remembered them at the day of the test, the memories of trying to study did come back every now and then.

There was a mountain range to the west of the new capital. It was called the Cascade Range and went through Oregon, stretching from Canada to Mexico, more or less. Blackstar could have been wrong, of course. Still, what didn't stick quite well in his mind was how this Cascade Range wasn't quite complete. To the North and Southwest were to great canyons that Blackstar was sure weren't included on any maps he had seen in his world. The strangest part about it was that most canyons in mountain ranges weren't so perfect. These canyons went straight through the range so that weather conditions could just flow on through to help the land on the other side become fertile and able. It was as if the two canyons had actually been carved out of the mountain range.

Then again, this was a different world. Blackstar shrugged it off, continuing to his room from outside the estate. He wondered idly what would be happening with the "new world government" or whatever that screen had wanted them to do. Clearly everyone wanted something different for this new world Blackstar wanted to make another DWMA but he obviously wasn't a reaper like lord Death had been. Instead he hoped to open up some sort of school similar that could teach weapon and meister studies. If only Blackstar had been more attentive in his studies instead of being a- Too much thought involved...

Blackstar threw the thought from his head as he climbed the stairs. As he went to open his door he heard a noise from inside. He wondered who it could be. Hastily he bust into the room for a fight. He leaped for he attack but, just as he was starting to notice that things were really more normal than they had previously appeared Kaede's foot was thrust into the man's gut, sending him on a one-way fast track face first into the floor. As he recovered he noted Kaede giggling at him.

As he rose he spotted Kaede holding what seemed to be hand rolled cigarettes. The smell in the air about his room, however, told him that tobacco wasn't what was in the paper rolled smokables. "K-Kaede?" Blackstar got out as Kaede started to right herself after a small giggle-fit. "What's up?"

Kaede's eyes opened slightly, groggily. She drew long from the burning paper cylinder and breathed the smoke into Blackstar's face with a chuckle. "I made it, Blackstar-bozu" She said mischievously, "I made a cannabis cigarette ~De Gozaru. The product is just like in the tobacco product. I saw my teacher roll one once ~Gozaruna." Kaede's free hand was making pointing gestures and clumsy hand motions as she spoke. "You just put it in between your lips and suck." Kaede rolled over closer to Blackstar and held an unlit. "I think I'll call it a joint ~De Gozaru!" Kaede exclaimed, her eyes opening wider than Blackstar had yet seen, a look of awe at the discovery she had just made, though Blackstar thought honestly that it wasn't too much of a discovery. He preferred the quadruple bowl design of his own pipe to anything else. However, he took the joint graciously and drew a lighter from his pocket to light the work.

The experience was simple, easy, smooth. Blackstar was surprised at the lack of difficulty. There was no need to cough or struggle to hold a hit in. He breathed out the plume after about ten seconds and the lethargy swept over him; that sweetness that made you just a bit rowdy, just a little silly. Blackstar sat down on the floor next to Kaede as he took another hit from the joint, his head clouding and a smile running slowly across his lips. "Good stuff." Blackstar breathed with a smile, a cloud of white fog flowing from his mouth.

The joints were perfectly rolled as well, without lumps or irregularity. Blackstar laid back eventually, enjoying the heavy feeling that touched his body with the type of gentleness only the green product could give. He fazed in and out for a bit, smoking a few joints (At least, whenever the joint ran out it was replaced by another one. How much had he smoked again?) Before long, however, a pair of feminine hands touched his figure, Kaede's hands... Blackstar looked at her with a questioning look about his face and opened his mouth to speak but Kaede spoke first. "Don't move Gozaruyo. I want to do something ~De Gozaru." Blackstar, of course, wasn't one to turn down an attractive female running her hands on him but something didn't feel right, like this had been her plan from the very beginning.

Still Blackstar held back on telling Kaede to stop, preferring to keep his mouth on a joint instead, for quite some time. That was until Kaede started to remove Blackstar's pants. He sat up quickly, his hands to Kaede's pulling them off quickly, albeit gently. "Kaede, I don't think you know what you're doing."

Kaede looked up at Blackstar with near closed eyes. She seemed confused for a moment before a smile touched her face again and she spoke, "But I know exactly what I want, Blackstar-bozu." She explained as she let her body slide up Blackstar's, flattening herself up against his chest with her own. "I saw you and you were the first one I wanted to claim. Haven't you ever been with a woman before ~Gozarune?"

"Well," Blackstar began, trying to think back to the women in his old life. Blackstar hadn't ever bothered chasing down women, admittedly. It had always been about fighting for him, going forward, embracing the present. "Not exactly..."

Kaede's lips found Blackstar's suddenly, forcing his mouth open and breathing smoke into his lungs. He coughed a bit but Kaede atop him licked her lips seductively and proceeded to start stripping off her top, her luscious breasts rolling from the cloth that held them in place. Blackstar blinked hesitantly as Kaede's breasts nearly slapped him in the face. He'd seen some nice ones on the girls around the school. In fact Tsubaki, now hat he remembered, had quite the pair but these were something different entirely. It was clear that, wherever the female ninja had come from, she had been one of the more mature women in the setting. "Then you don't know that you don't want it, do you ~De Gozaru?"

With hands that seemed much stronger than they look Kaede reached down and tore Blackstar's shirt from his form, lust about her face clear as day as she leaned down against the blue haired man, kissing him eagerly. Kaede, unlike Blackstar, had taken it upon herself to get those simple little virginity taken care of at the earliest possible convenience after figuring out the implications that giving up one's v-card truly entailed. It wasn't some sacred thing that you kept. It was a voucher to an amazing place that you could find nearly anywhere.

As Blackstar's already halfhearted struggling faded into acceptance Kaede took advantage of the situation, her skilled hands snaking their way about Blackstar's figure, slipping his clothes slowly from his body as her own clothes followed suit at around the same speed. Before long Blackstar playfully nibbled at Kaede's ears and, to respond in kind, Kaede rubbed her breasts against his chest, tightening the already apparent lack of space between the two of them. Blackstar felt the heat from Kaede's body, the intimacy. This was something unlike the bond between a simple meister and weapon, that was for sure.

Kaede didn't waste time, now that Blackstar had become more accepting toward her ways she was to strike with a lust unseen in this world before she had arrived. Kaede hadn't ever been easy or promiscuous but she knew what she wanted when she wanted it and, since she first arrived at the Estate Blackstar had held her eyes. She knew that the four men present at the Estate were, more or less, the four men she had to have sex with. Why not go for Blackstar first. He seemed least experienced though still able to differentiate, so far as Kaede had judged, between true love and Kaede's lust. It would have been very fair to say that Kaede wanted largely nothing to do, at this time in her life, with love. She wanted to scratch her inconvenient itches and have fun while she helped create civilization anew.

As Blackstar's acceptance became more and more like partnership Kaede's hands had already worked his pants beyond his ankles. Kaede sat Blackstar up against the wall and sat upon his crossed legs. Blackstar's blue boxers accented Kaede's small green strings interestingly. While Blackstar's undergarment was bulky and easily hid anything he might have Kaede wore something resembling a triangle in the front with little green strings that somehow held it together. It was like an image that put together opposites. Neither participant minded.

Kaede allowed her body to slide down Blackstar's, slowly pulling his boxers down. She was surprised when she almost got slapped in the face with Blackstar's member; nothing overly impressive but not lacking in girth or liveliness. A grin went across Kaede's face and she let out a chuckle, letting her fingers coil around it with a strong but gentle grip. "It's a nice tool, Blackstar-bozu. I think we'll both enjoy this ~Gozaruyo." Kaede finished as she licked her lips slowly.

Blackstar squirmed experimentally in Kaede's grip but she tightened it somewhat and Blackstar stopped his struggle. He didn't know why he was so instinctively resistant but it just didn't quite seem right. Kaede had no plans of being his girl personally, right? As though reading his mind Kaede spoke again, her hand stroking along his member as it twitched in her grip. "This isn't your world, Blackstar-bozu. We've all had fantasies of what we would do with a new world ~De Gozaru. This is your chance to ignore every rule you've ever had to follow ~Gozarune."

His mind flashed to all of the uncomfortable things he had needed to deal with in the old world, in the time where Blackstar was just a student instead of a king of The New World. His thoughts, however, were cut short as Kaede wrapped her lips around his girth and let her head sink down to the base. It was a feeling unlike anything Blackstar had ever felt; Rapture within the wet, hot recesses of Kaede's cheeks. He felt his hips lifting to meet her again after she slid back up the length of the shaft and then repeated.

Kaede was enjoying this. Blackstar showed all of the "symptoms" of being a virgin; all of the inexperience that Kaede liked to toy around with. As she brought her mouth upward from Blackstar's manhood she wrapped her tongue around it, dragging it backward along the length. When she sank back down she let her tongue brush hard against the underside, pushing against the flow as well as allowing her to get better depth, deeper penetration. Kaede had found that fellatio had been one of her most favorite things during sex. She had control of everything, whether any man would like to admit it or not. There was also the pleasure that Kaede personally felt from giving fellatio. While it wasn't anything like the real thing Kaede found the act of sucking a man's member to be very arousing. She eventually found herself with her hand between her legs, giving herself pleasure as well as Blackstar.

For a brief moment Kaede removed Blackstar's manhood from her lips, "I like the taste ~De Gozaru. It makes my tongue feel funny." Kaede licked the length up and down; teasing Blackstar, paying attention to the signals he was giving. She felt Blackstar's hand touch the back of her head as she picked up where she left off. His hand was unsure, he was unsure. He didn't know whether to push down or ease off. It amused Kaede that someone only a year younger than her was so hesitant to take charge.

"Kaede," Blackstar started with a groan of pleasure, "It feels good."

Kaede made a noise of inquiry as she sucked and then, without warning, she switched up on Blackstar, moving her mouth and wrapping her breasts around his manhood, enveloping it and licking the tip as it stuck out between the soft flesh mountains. "tangyou." Kaede got out, though her mouth was really "too full" to be speaking. Blackstar moaned under her ministrations and Kaede, for a second, was sure she had Blackstar at his last edge but the blue haired man surprised her, reaching forward and grabbing her by the nipples, pinching lightly while he guided them wherever he wanted them to go. Kaede moaned loudly, her mouth still covering the upper half of Blackstar's member. Her crotch grew moist, the sudden flash of pleasure overcoming her for an instant. She was growing close to the point of no return though Kaede guessed she was already too far in to turn anything down.

Blackstar was brimming with confidence. He'd followed his instincts and just went for a chance. Turned out his intuition had been right. He pinched down on Kaede's nipples, moving them a bit slower. While Blackstar thought he had control now he still had to admit that, left to her own devices, Kaede was a partner that could put even Blackstar to shame were he not careful. That mouth, however, was his main problem. The soft domes of flesh that were Kaede's breasts were warm and nice but her mouth was warmer still and moist, with more control, more skill. Kaede knew how to use her tongue and before she had started using her breasts Blackstar had been well into the danger zone for keeping in his "excitement."

If Blackstar had been having any fears in his mind when he had thought on control, however, he had been having them for good reason. Kaede knew the benefits of her own mouth better than he did and, in one fluid motion Kaede sank her lips to the root. Blackstar could imagine it to be an interesting scene to watch a woman's head sink underneath her breasts. He didn't have any way to remember the scene because the feeling had been something so intense as to cause his eyes to close for him. Blackstar knew that one more like that and it would be over for that shot.

Kaede had again taken control. She slowly drew her mouth upward, leaving Blackstar's throbbing friend eager for another feeling of similar nature. Kaede had almost gagged on it when she had pulled that stunt and the thing throbbed so hard in her throat that she knew exactly where Blackstar was; on the brink, right where she wanted him. Kaede was known for her tricks. Most of the men she had been with were men that were easily controlled through pleasure. They hit their threshold quickly and had definite signs as to what made them teeter a bit longer on the edge or what would push them right off. Kaede liked to read those signals, to hold out as long as possible. Blackstar was one such man and Kaede found more pleasure in the control of her partner's orgasm much more than the actual act of sex itself. All the penetration in the world couldn't make Kaede feel as good as controlling the pleasure of her partner.

As Blackstar's tool throbbed against her face Kaede slid up his frame, her body lightly brushing against it as she did so. "This is The New World, Blackstar-bozu. The same rules don't apply here ~De Gozaru, you can make this world whatever you like." Kaede positioned herself over Blackstar's lap, straddling the gap where Blackstar's manhood bobbed to and fro against Kaede's panties, as though knocking for entrance. As Kaede untied the straps at her sides she continued, "The worlds we come from are not without us but we are here and never can return," As the deep green triangle covered with strings fell from Kaede's slit she reached down and grabbed Blackstar by the shaft, putting it just at the right place for her to fall down onto it, " It's no use if you don't let loose in here but you can't go unless I do. Don't let me down, Blackstar-bozu." Kaede said before lowering herself down on Blackstar slowly, teasingly. Kaede moaned huskily as she felt Blackstar's length penetrate her.

Blackstar had already been at his limit from Kaede's mouth but suddenly it was a different thing altogether. He felt as though he would burst at any second. Kaede leaned against him, her breasts flattening against his face. The height different was a bit off, as Blackstar was somewhat shorter than Kaede. This was sex; the soft velvet moistness that covered him was a massage, a hot tub an a very beautiful woman rubbing her body all over him (what's not to like?) but also a workout somehow. It drained him that he couldn't let go. Kaede was controlling him through that connection point, surely.

Kaede sighed pleasantly around Blackstar's girth. As she ground her hips into Blackstar's she grew weak in the knees. What it lacked in outright size Blackstar's endowment made up for in width and the tendency to try and wrestle it's way around inside of her, as though it were tying to take control, even from the position it was in. Kaede knew that this was Blackstar's innate urge to get off but she had to hand it to him for possessing such a good ride. It was almost too much to take a first, the width making Kaede bite her lip in a bizarre mix of pleasure and pain. Now the pain had completely faded and Kaede fought back the desire to drool as sweat formed on her body as it ground against Blackstar.

Blackstar got it in his head at some point that he would try to fight back, of course. He pushed upward hard as Kaede ground at his hips. Kaede was surprised but as Blackstar made for another hard thrust into her the green haired ninja pushed herself down against him, pinning Blackstar's hips to the floor. Kaede panted briefly, trying to fight off the pleasure, trying to fend off the loss of control that pleasure could instill. Kaede gave a giggle and looked Blackstar in the eyes, her face laden with desire and need. "Don't do that again ~Gozaruyo." Kaede gasped out as she started again to grind her hips against Blackstar's, "Or I'll break you..."

The man under Kaede blinked in confusion. Could she really do that. Blackstar gave a grin as he reached around Kaede, putting a joint between his lips. He grabbed her butt and squeezed hard, thrusting upward as hard as he could. Kaede squeaked out in pleasure from the surprise thrust. She shook for an instant, lost in pleasure. Blackstar's lips touched hers and in rushed a cloud of smoke pushed into her lungs by his. He was taking the lead. Kaede's head went blank as Blackstar kept the smoke in her lungs, his mouth sealed over hers. She found her head for a second and exhaled through her nose but the clouded mind came fast afterward. She relaxed and the man under her took advantage. He pushed up hard with his hips and Kaede clenched her teeth together, toes curling. As a second thrust came into her Kaede gripped hard around Blackstar, nails digging into the flesh of his back. Finally, with a third thrust Kaede cried out in a passionate call that filled the room.

Blackstar had found his confidence. He hadn't gotten why he had hesitated so much. This was just another competition, he had found out. He'd be able to hold back and he would break her, not the other way around. "That was a pretty good try," Blackstar spoke out as he slammed into Kaede between the legs, "But I'm Blackstar. I surpassed God. You'll have to do better than that to beat me."

Blackstar pounded against Kaede, every fast paced meeting the solid attack of two forces fighting for territory. Kaede wanted to control the lead but Blackstar wanted nothing more than to beat her at her own game. Blackstar would win this fight and that fact suddenly started becoming abundantly clear to Kaede. She may have had experience over Blackstar but he had always been fighting. Fighting for the now was what Blackstar did. What he lacked in experience and know-how he would very quickly make up for in both effort and talent. As Kaede started reaching her own limit she hugged Blackstar hard, bracing for the moment and her whole body tightened up. Blackstar paused, if only just, and the moment was gone. Kaede fell back below her limit. This game wasn't so difficult, Blackstar guessed.

Blackstar drew hard from his joint, breathing the cloud into Kaede's face. "I'm getting' pretty close, Kaede. Where do you want it?" Kaede's awareness recovered significantly at that moment. She really wasn't wanting this. It felt amazing but Kaede had been joking around when she had told Blackstar to let go inside of her. She was fine with having children, since it was her only true purpose on this strange new world, but she wasn't ready yet. That fact combined with the fact that Kaede had lost near all control of the situation made things all that much worse. She tried to get out for Blackstar to let go outside but she got half way through the word before a powerful thrust from Blackstar almost brought her over the edge, keeping her from speaking and making a squeak slip from her lips without coherence. Again she tried to get out the word and half way through Blackstar delivered another telling thrust, shaking Kaede to the bone and making her mind reel to try to keep the word "outside," which was quickly trying to change itself to "inside."

Another thrust crashed into Kaede, shaking her sanity completely from its foundation. Kaede gasped out, leaning her head against the wall and drooling. She could feel it all inside of her, piercing her depths. She tried again to speak but Blackstar had just stopped listening, more thrusts shattering her thoughts as she tried further to speak. Blackstar took another long hit and then whispered into Kaede's ear "Do you want it inside?" Another four thrusts, deep and in quick succession broke through Kaede's barriers. Even if she hadn't wanted it her body was more than willing to give consent. She tightened bodily, body hunched for a moment but then straighting out atop Blackstar, her breasts defying gravity for near a moment in her climax.

"Inside!" Kaede gasped as she came back down from her peak, "Please Inside ~De Gozaru." She begged, clawing into Blackstar's shoulders as her hips started grinding against Blackstar's.

Blackstar smiled with the joint in his mouth. He started to thrust again, this time not as hard, gently; it was just to keep the two of them where they were. "What'll you do for me?" Blackstar asked with a grin, pushing his length deep into Kaede slowly. Kaede gasped as Blackstar sped up for a half an instant, unable to answer. "Will you let me have my way with you whenever I want?" Kaede was desperate and went to agree but Blackstar cut off her thoughts yet again with a quick thrust that drove her back to the edge and kept her from talking, "Will you do whatever I want you to do when we do it?" Kaede didn't care anymore. She went to answer but Blackstar again cut her off with a thrust that shoved against her inner walls and she rammed her head into the wall behind Blackstar, numb with ecstasy.

Kaede didn't get time to recover. Blackstar asked her many things but, as Blackstar stretched that line that held her climax in check to it's utmost limits, Kaede started to not care anymore. It felt so good. Her mind was swimming and her entrance was throbbing around Blackstar's manhood, desperate to get that one last push over the edge again. As the last question came around, one that Kaede hadn't even heard she cried out, "Anything ~De Gozaruya." She squeaked, "I'll do anything you ever want, just please give it to me deep inside ~Gozaruna!"

Blackstar suddenly throbbed within Kaede, surprising her even more and pushing her just over. She hung by a thread from the cliff that was orgasm, desperate for that thin restraint to snap under the weight of Kaede's sensations. She reached down in between her legs to finish the job herself but Blackstar caught her by the wrists and held them up. His grip was tight, painfully so. Kaede moistened considerably, the act of being restrained arousing her beyond a normal level. She was blind with lust. Blackstar's voice reached her. "Is that a promise? Do you swear to do anything I ever want. You do keep your word, right?"

Kaede tried to think on this but, suddenly, a powerful thrust hit her, snapping the thread and throwing her of the cliff that was climax. The sensation made Kaede's body shake and tighten and atop Blackstar she contorted in a variety of ways independent of her will. But now she wanted it. She wanted Blackstar to release so badly inside of her. What had been his previous question? Did it matter. She had to swear, right? "I swear," Kaede said, shivering with pleasure atop Blackstar, unable to even move her hips anymore, "So please fill me up, Blackstar-sama." Blackstar grinned and thrust hard four times more. Kaede shook again, multiple waves of pleasure striking across her before a gentle heat rose up from within her. It was electricity flowing through her body. Kaede drooled on Blackstar's shoulder, her hips shaking by themselves around him. "Feels... so good." Kaede mumbled sleepily as she closed her eyes.

Blackstar, however, had a different idea, by the looks of it. He pulled Kaede off (a process that sent Kaede into orgasm twice more) and put her on the bed face down. "I don't think we're done yet. You swore to do anything I ever wanted of you. Are you gonna go back on your word after I did what you agreed on?" Kaede hadn't realized it but now that she was once again, if only for a bit, regaining sanity, she thought about what she had just signed herself into; complete slavery. She agreed to follow any orders, any requests that Blackstar would ever have for her. Kaede wasn't a dishonest person either. She was sometimes purposefully deceptive, which was, after all, the job of a ninja but she never lied if she could help it. She had just signed herself to Blackstar. There was a strange tugging at her chest in the direction of Blackstar but, as Blackstar lifted her hips and shoved back into her slit she forgot it squeaking in delight as he continued. Though Kaede dreaded being pinned down by anyone she found the prospect of having been sworn eternally to someone who had full command of her made her wet with anticipation and the excitement of being "owned" made her body quiver with embarrassment and the desire to fulfill a kink.

Little did the two care about the person who silently watched them through the cracked open door. Miyuki had managed to escape Osaka's watch and fled back to the place where she knew was safe, the Mansion. She had thought to go back to Yuko's room and ask for help but the noises from the cracked door had halted her movement. She had seen more than enough, most of it. She wasn't sure whether to be appalled or aroused. She was, after all, a woman of age, even if she didn't necessarily look it. As a seventeen years old young woman Miyuki looked somewhat plain with a bit of feminine charm and an attitude that could whip up a thunderstorm. As a woman twenty years older Miyuki had done her fair share of "body-sharing" with survivors and some of the test subjects back in Japan when she was being changed. Still, at this time?

She moved back through the mansion, back downstairs toward the kitchen. She wondered if she could have just anything or what? It seemed very clear that everyone had everything the needed to eat and more. However, there was somebody already in the kitchen. Miyuki found herself stepping back around the corner, daring to look again only after listening for a few seconds. The language she couldn't understand but the words, whatever they may have been, were brimming with heart and happiness while also full of sorrow and longing. It was like saying hello and goodbye to a friend that had once gotten you in trouble but had never let you down. As Miyuki turned the corner again a large man, knee length mane the color of red dirt and dressed in a short pair of loose red pants and a sleeveless white shirt cooked.

And what a marvel it was to watch him work for what time she did watch him at the feast he was making. The dishes were lain out on the stove-top at various stages of cooking. He was flipping a monumental omelet out of a pan in one hand and chopping fresh ingredients with the other. The sound of his voice was a singing one, something that passed the language barrier between the two of them. Through his husky voice, as Miyuki noticed herself wandering silently closer, the song almost told a story; building slowly through meandering tones and bassinent fluctuations, eventually rising to a righteous bellowing of marvelous musical energy at the end, the red haired man turning to see her watching him.

The following two and a half moments were silence. Miyuki looked the man up and down and he did so unto her. For a moment they locked gazes, almost trying to pick apart the opposing thoughts and, for an instant and a third they both thought to the embarrassing nature of Akimichi Chouji's Late Night Cooking Songs. Chouji had been making a late night meal for himself, hungry after the hard day of training. Miyuki looked at all of the food, a royal banquet's worth of well prepared food made by Chouji. Miyuki spoke and Chouji gave an apologetic smile. He spoke out in his native tongue, but it seemed only perhaps one in every nine words reached the Japanese girl. English had no similarities at all and the new girl seemed to have a very limited understanding of the English language. Talking wouldn't be helpful in the slightest during this encounter.

Chouji instead decided to use gestures. He had learned various forms of sign language on his travels, in the past nine years away from humanity proper. Some tribal cultures that lived in the wilds didn't even have spoken languages. Some people in the distant western lands of the Shinobi continent believed that word of mouth was a cursed thing and word of action was the only acceptable "language." He pointed at the pans and pots and dishes with food. A wok with pounds of rice sizzled loudly as Chouji flipped a pan's worth of fish in a single, fluid motion. Chouji had always been in love with food, from the time he could realistically comprehend his sense of taste he had been sure to hone it to its most receptive. He had long been away from the convenience of spices and may herbs that he had been used to but now, in a kitchen fully stocked with fresh ingredients on hand, Chouji was making a masterpiece.

In fact, Miyuki wouldn't have called it a masterpiece alone. No, it was so much more. It was a museum unto itself, the dishes that Chouji considered a "Late Night Snack." Miyuki really hadn't ever see so much food laid out in a prepared manner save for settings of commercial standard and all of the, were the quality one would see a formal dining. Chouji dolled some pasta onto a plate and poured a white sauce onto the wide, long noodles, "Alfredo," Chouji said with a grin. He ate as he cooked, dolling put other dishes gradually.

Miyuki, on occasion, tried to speak to Chouji but, unfortunately for her, the language barrier wasn't something to scoff at. She had been something of an English speaker when back in Japan, twenty years ago. However, that was a long time ago and so long not using the language that came second anyway. The fact that Miyuki regularly had gone months without saying a single word didn't help either. Chouji's cooking though, was a language that anybody could understand and with each bite benevolence, love and generosity were bestowed upon her taste buds. The alfredo was delicious, smooth milky textures washed down with a peach liquor that Chouji had designed the dishes around so that he could get to sleep easier. It wasn't his but Yuko had recommended it to him to help in sleep.

The next dish was something a little more close to home for Miyuki. Chouji had prepared an omelet and fried rice. The servings were phenomenal. Chouji proved to be a big eater right away for the first immigrant. As the night went by Chouji's accurate gestures and good cooking did the talking. He named off everything he made as he served it, even if Miyuki didn't understand what he was saying most of the time exactly. She had certainly never heard the words. Designs of food both western and eastern and some clashing together somewhere in the middle all were present in Chouji's feast and, for the first time she could remember in a long time Miyuki ate her fill and didn't have to worry about running for her life from zombies.

After near two hours of eating Chouji drew a small map for where Miyuki would need to go for a room. He went to his own and on the floor next to his extra large futon was a bottle and a note. The note read:

_I have to ask you do assist me with something tomorrow._

_Drink this. It's a gift from me to you so enjoy it. Believe me, it's good stuff!_

_Be ready to wake up bright and early tomorrow morning._

_I'm so sorry I have to bother you with this but it's the only way._

_Goodnight,_

_Yuko_

_P.S._

_Pay Attention To Your Dreams._

Chouji shrugged as he finished the letter. Pay attention to your dreams, indeed. Maybe if he had he could have figured out a way ahead of time to keep from getting sucked into an alternate world that he didn't know about, wouldn't have believed in if told about and had no way of preparing for save for against his rival. Because that made sense. Chouji still appreciated the sentiment, however, and gladly helped himself to the small bottle of very powerful spirits. After the first cup he immediately felt tipsy, which surprised a man like Chouji, who had always been proud of his ability to hold his alcohol. He stood and stepped to his cabinet and inside was The Mace, affectionately named by Chouji due to its size and durability. The end was a large spheroid covered in large glass nubs with a bowl perhaps a half an inch wide and two carbs, one that forced air in clockwise and the other forcing air in counter-clockwise on the other side.

As he filled the bowl and drew from the pipe, his thumb heating to the level of fire as he depressed the green goodness with it. The stem, from two inches wide tapering to a fitting mouthpiece at the end, was glass tempered and thick enough to facilitate the bashing of a human skull should Chouji ever turn to such a method. One thing was for sure: The Mace was an indestructible piece of glass. Milky smoke filled the clear glass chamber, the Akimichi gradually working in short blasts of air from the carb, spinning the smoke, making it billow to perfection before being savored. The completed hit was perfect. Chouji counted in his head, forcing back a cough; _One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven Eight, Nine... Ten. _A dragon's plume of smoke erupted from Chouji's lips uneasily but still controlled. A gentle cough followed, the gentle haze of intoxication flowing over the large man. He was sated, somewhat drunk and now quite somewhere else. He stumbled back to his bed and drank another glass of the earthy flavored spirits that made his face grow warm when it touched his tongue and was a blanket of gentle heat as he swallowed.

The sleep came easily; Chouji closed his eyes and he was Elsewhere, the land he could not say. However, Yuko was there; She stood in front of Chouji beckoning him forward. As Chouji went to follow her, though, he heard sounds from behind. Turning he saw what had been all of his friends, the people he loved and cared for but they were in trouble. They were all at the point of death, calling for his help.

"Don't do it." Yuko's voice came from behind Chouji. He turned back to see her shaking her head, her hand still beckoning him closer, "That is not the path you were meant to follow." Chouji looked back at his friends, the closest friends he had ever had, definitely closer to him than Yuko was and they were in mortal danger where Yuko seemed fine. He looked back to Yuko and the witch certainly knew, even in her Astral presence, that Chouji would not choose her side in this conflict. He turned on his heel and ran toward his friends. "You mustn't!" Yuko called from behind but Chouji kept running and...

Chouji fell into the blackness short of his friends. Gravity stopped; he floated without movement. Pictures of his old life flashed by his mind; the fights, the good times, the sadness and the pain. The sorrow of not seeing anybody before he was sent to this strange world. He was alone now because of a fluke and a rival who attacked him due to some strange joke long ago. Chouji had died and failed and because of that he would never again see home. Hate filled his mind. "Why should I even care," he asked himself in the darkness as he floated through the memories, "About anything in this strange new world?"

"Because that is the way that fate led you." Yuko said simply, floating down from above Chouji. "You are here because fate had decided for it to happen. You should feel no sorrow for the loss of your friends or even your loss. This is a time for a new beginning."

Chouji curled up as he floated, taking comfort in the heat of his own body. "I don't want a new beginning. Nine years training was for a new beginning with my friends, not strangers in a new world filled with zombies."

"Yet it happened," Yuko countered, "This is the new world but you are not limited to what it has. You have brought things of your own and that includes the knowledge of your old world. You are a king of the new world. Make this your new home or make I what you wished you could have had." Yuko's slender body wrapped around Chouji's curled form gently, floating around him almost protectively.

Chouji, however, slipped from her protection, "I just want to go home, Yuko-san. That's all I will ever want." He felt himself turn in the void and push away from the dimensional witch. He fell sharply and opened his eyes to light. Ino and Shikamaru stood over him, concern on their faces. Chouji sat up painfully. "What happened?" Chouji asked, holding his side.

"Nerve toxin in the enemy ninja's blade," Ino told him, "Hallucinatory. You back with us, Chouji," The Akimichi nodded. It had all been a hallucination. He stood slowly with help from Shikamaru. They left back to camp, where apparently Kiba's team had been. Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru sat around the fire, waiting for them. The night went by. Things were talked about. Chouji felt, for the first time in some time, whole. He was glad that all he had thought had happened, all the shock and strangeness was just a hallucination. As he ate he savored the food of his world, the good things that his world produced to be eaten. Konoha's little treats that he brought along, potato chips, everything Chouji loved about this world he had access to again.

"What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked

Chouji looked at his friend in the midst of dinner as the others were talking. "What do you mean," He asked.

"I mean why are you doing this, Chouji," Shikamaru continued. "When faced with what is right or what is easiest you always pick right."

What do you mean?" Chouji asked again confused. "Did I do something wrong?"

Shikamaru sighed and muttered "Troublesome..." Before standing up and the whole scene froze. "Even in your dreams I'm too intelligent to be help back by mental limitations..." Shikamaru waved his hands around and the scene fused out and changed. Yuko appeared behind him in a cloudy smoke that quickly faded.

"You need to realize that the world that was is no longer, Chouji-san." Yuko said with a serious expression, "There will never be a return and even if you could there would be no way for you to fit in that world. There is another Akimichi Chouji in that world."

"But how can this happen?" Chouji asked, recoiling. "This all shouldn't be possible."

"You're exactly right, it's completely impossible," Shikamaru said as he put his hands on Chouji's shoulders, "But it is and that's all that matters right now. I got things on this side, you do your thing. I'm always with ya buddy. You just need to call out in the right way." With a smile Shikamaru faded away, leaving the astral Yuko behind. She gave Chouji a look of apology, a serious one that held no happiness. In the end it wasn't Yuko that told Chouji to make the "Correct" decision, it was his own best friend in dreams. It seemed that, even beyond the unbreakable boundary that was one system of existences to the other, the world of dreams really was all the same.

{HR}

There you have it. The end of the chapter wasn't all too great, in fact the chappie didn't strike out at me too well at the end after the review but it passes. As you see, new oaths are being made (whether under duress or assumed agreement), the First Immigrant is being introduced the The Legacy Of Eight, Chouji is starting to gradually let go of his fear of a new world and Osaka... well she still hasn't had any major parts but they will come in time ^^

Please Review, give me pairings and characters from other anime that may have a chance in joining this epic crossover. Don't pick anybody from any anime or manga or otherwise series if they have already appeared in this fic. One character per manga/anime for this fic only! No more Soul Eater Characters (which really sucks cause I love Kid and Excalibur), No more Negima characters (Goodbye hopes of KotAede), NO HOLIC CHARACTERS! (Sorry Watanuki, hold the fort...) And so on!

Yours,

Tankou001


	3. Sekai Mae No Obake

The New World

A Crossover

Hey All! Tankou001 here with an all new chapter of The New World!

Enjoy!

{HR}

Chapter Three: Sekai Mae No Obake

Chouji walked through the woods of Oregon. Largely, the Oregon forests had taken over completely, even areas once civilized were covered in new forest and old forest alike. It was like many areas history said were thriving masses decades ago never happened at all here. The city of Bend didn't exist, nor did the area, where The Legacy Of Eight had arrived. Portland was little in comparison to it's standard 21st century double and Salem was practically nonexistent.

Chouji didn't mind it, though. He was fine with untamed wilderness having taken over, even when there were zombies galore down below. They walked on foot in the undergrowth now but in time old growth good for jumping on and from would grow dense and hearty and it would provide good wood. Outposts could be made into the trees by redirecting the branches and letting them grow into place. Naturally speaking, it could work very well.

Yuko hadn't spoken to him for quite some time but she did seem very determined to let herself work through the experience rather than pull some crazy magic stunt, which Chouji had actually hoped for a while ago. He wanted to talk to her about something but she was an enigma to him, and not of his world. How could he know what her world was or what that world was like? She walked ahead of him for hours until the forest grew very thick, thick with trees far too old and dense to belong to nature. The old growth was mixed in with new growth and some trees that would have been considered "middle aged" in tree terms, Chouji supposed. Yuko was suddenly nowhere in sight. Chouji called out to her but his cries went on deaf ears, or none but those of trees. He turned around, balking from his quest only to find that the way he had come had grown over with thicker trees than in front. Turning back to where he had been going proved even less successful. The trees were surrounding him, closing in like an army. Every time he turned his head more trees were covering him!

Then, he calmed himself. He didn't know what was going on and all seemed impossible. Chouji used kai, but it was not a genjutsu. Then he punched a nearby tree but it did not budge. Then he focused and really punched, breaking into the tree and shattering the wood clean through, but the wood grew back fast almost crushing his hand. He started to worry, then he climbed. He climbed and climbed until he felt he should have been to the very top but the forest didn't stop. He found a ledge of wood and sat on it. He did not move, he did not breath, but he felt the forest around him grow in, touching at him, feeling his presence and drinking it up as if it were rays of the sun. This was not normal wood. He made a seal in his hand, that which Shikamaru would use when thinking, planning. Shikamaru appeared in front of him, as if through the wood.

"What's up?" Shikamaru asked, smoking a cigarette nonchalantly.

"You smoke?" Chouji asked

"Do now." Shikamaru said, "What of it?"

"It doesn't matter," Chouji said, "I'm stuck in a super forest and don't know the way out. It just grows around me."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ask yourself."

Chouji thought on this and Shikamaru was gone. He meditated on this thing. Why is this forest growing around me like it is, he asked himself; Because it wanted to, because he was a foreign entity that could potentially be dangerous, because it was a test, because he needed help with the situation, because Yuko had left him there. These and many more thoughts sprouted from Chouji's mind but he couldn't find an answer to his real question; why was the forest entrapping him.

He bit into his thumb and wiped it along his palm before speaking "Kuchiyose No Jutsu" and jamming the hand down on his crown; silence came, no summon. He tried again and the summon failed. He was cut off from his summons, the Polar Clan of Hyōga Sanmyaku. He closed his eyes and sighed. This wasn't as easy as he had hoped for it to be. He just wanted to be home, where everything was as it should be.

_That's your problem_ a ghostly voice echoed from the trees that ever so slowly crept in on the Akimichi, _You want, knowing that you cannot have._ Chouji swung out behind him and tore the tree from stump... and it didn't grow back. Chouji looked into the hollow and stepped into it. The trees parted for him, though only just. _Don't follow the path given easily,_ the voice echoed at him, but he ignored it, _You'll only get more lost._

Chouji pushed through the trees when they let him through and tore through the trees when they would not and when he was allowed to the roar of a bear in the distance alerted him but it was from behind and he was only moving forward...

And then he was lost, once again caught in an even tighter cage of wood, so fit around him that he could scarcely turn in place. _I told you not to follow the path given_ the voice said with an inhuman chuckle _Now you're more lost._

"Shut up..." Chouji muttered. _Why should I? _The voice asked back, N_ot like you listen to me. Not like you ever did. Care to turn your head?_ "Shut up." Chouji said more forcefully this time. _ No I don't think I will._ The voice said with a strange similarity to Chouji's own voice, _Not gonna let you run away from things this time now that it's just me and you, big guy._ "SHUT UP!" Chouji roared, letting his arms turn huge and tearing through the forest...

And Chouji looked through the debris seeing safety and openness. _Don't do it, buddy!_ The voice called out, getting dimmer in his ears. _We'll be stuck here forever!_

"You don't exist and neither does this world..." Chouji said solemnly as he stepped into the debris and into the clearing ahead.

_Aw, we're all gonna die, Big guy. Just turn around and go back before it's too late! _The voice was steadily turning more like Chouji's with each sentence but Chouji didn't like it and continued. And he fell. He didn't understand at first but his eyes flitted up to see teeth, big fat long teeth dozens of feet long and several feet wide swallowing him up; the biggest row of canines Chouji had ever seen.

He panicked and struggled and kept falling. The tunnel was flesh and cartilage, not earth and stone as Chouji was used to. He reached out for the debris, hoping for anchor but to no avail. He kept falling until the light at the mouth of the tunnel closed and he was in complete darkness. He fell and fell and kept falling until...

He hit the bottom with a thud. He looked around, blind by the absence of light, the sound of inquiring noses huffed in the darkness around him. "You have been devoured by the forest." A rumbling voice said, "You are damned to wait here until saved or until you get out in the way the forest allows... or until you die."

_Well we're doomed._ The voice of Chouji's counterpart said in the dark. _ It was a good run, really._

Chouji finally turned his head to snap at whatever had been bothering him and there, clear as day in the pitch... was himself. This Chouji wasn't him though. This Chouji was styled in leather pants of red and silk shirt of maroon. From the mane of red that lie atop his crown came two horns, similar to those of a goat and from behind him twitched a pronged tail. He gave a white smile in the darkness. "Bout time, big guy. But we're dead."

"Who are you?" Chouji asked, looking... himself, up and down.

"I am your demon, Chouji, an extension of chakra that has life unto its own and helps you through the more... sensitive parts of your life, like that mean habit of punching people in the face when they call you fat. I also instigated your training voyage back in the old world."

"You mean my home?" Chouji asked

"No, I mean the old world," The demon Chouji repeated. "This is home now, Chouji and it's never going to change. You're dead now and it's not going to change either. Yuko is gone and I'm the only one that can walk you out of this place."

"You're some kind of hallucination..." Chouji said, "Some kind of genjutsu I can't shake off..."

"Chouji..." The demon Chouji said, "You're the only ninja in this whole world capable of Genjutsu and its not even your thing. The animals of this world haven't yet gained sapience like the old world and clearly the forests have. Right now you can't just lumber around as if you were a ninja of Konoha. You're a ruler now, of the new world. You want to get out of here?" Chouji paused before nodding,. Though only just. "Then you have to be nice. This world is real whether you want to accept it or not. The fact that you're stuck underground in the forest is the main evidence. These trees see you. You must see them for what they have become in the years of zombie outbreak."

Chouji looked around. Why had the trees grown in around him and why had they devoured him. Chouji nodded again, just briefly "Apologize," Demon Chouji ordered. Chouji rose an eyebrow, "Apologize to the forest for encroaching on its territory and for damaging their children."

Chouji sighed, "I'm sorry for trespassing and I am sorry for the damage."

Suddenly there was light. The dark around him became an open forest clearing, filled with great brown bears. The wandered around, catching fish from a nearby stream. Some of the looked at Chouji as he stepped from he gut of the world but none of them looked at him as a threat. "Now apologize?" Demon Chouji said, walking out next to Chouji, "Apologize for not listening to me earlier."

Chouji looked up and down at his demon formed self. "Why?" he asked, "You're still just a part of me already and you don't even want home back..."

"Not back, ahead," The demon said, "Guess Yuko-san isn't gonna be picking you up anytime soon, but you'll learn. I guess it's good enough to get you to accept things as they are now than not at all. On to the next one. Talk to me later when you've made your decision." Demon Chouji was gone and Chouji left in the clearing with trees so thick surrounding it that Chouji couldn't hope to get through if he tried ad he had already apologized to the forest for damaging it. To damage it again in hopes of escape would just be rude.

Instead he wandered the clearing. Large as it was it was still nothing truly sizable. The bears didn't bother him at all, though they did occasionally bump into him or sniff him or splash water at him Chouji understood that it was just bears being bears. These were normal though more placid than their size and breed would have indicated. He stepped up to the largest bear, an elderly female probably a grand mother of bears already. He looked at him with wise eyes as he approached, though she did not fear him, certainly not. Chouji sat in front of her as she lounged in the noon-day sun. He stared into her eyes, trying to see then intelligence in them that wasn't there.

"She's a pretty thing, isn't she?" Chouji heard his own voice from behind. Chouji turned to chastise his demon for being there after just leaving but this time it wasn't the demon Chouji. This was a new Chouji; a Chouji surrounded by a cloud of light and in a shirt of the finest of linen. His pants were wool but expertly woven and looked softer than the finest cotton, without the slightest itchiness. "Ya, oldest one in the lot. Kinda reminds me of the bears back home, back in the old world but less white and less intelligent."

Chouji looked at his angelic self up and down, not quite sure what to think of it. "At least you think of home as home..." He said somberly, looking back to the old she-bear.

"Animals of this world have no sapience yet," The angel Chouji continued, ignoring his original's comment. "It was the ninja arts that breathed intelligence into the beasts, Chouji, especially the Polar Clan and the other Bear clans. The remaining bears of the clans that didn't take to sapience became huge and dangerous, hundreds of stories tall with the urge to devour everything or sleep until their hunger next set pangs in their colossal guts. These bears are all docile and placid from years in the forest lone and free from zombies. None of them are particularly young and all of them have seen sights that make ordinary things unfit for notice. A zombie to them wouldn't be too much trouble. They would just walk off without much care instead of fleeing at high speed as other animals do."

"What's your point?" Chouji asked, not understanding why his angelic counterpart was saying these things.

"Establish a pecking order and it will run itself. Become top of the order and you are the boss. Bears aren't any different in small communities, as you may know. These bears are more powerful than normal bears but you are used to fighting amongst the Polar Clan."

"Are you telling me to fight these bears?" Chouji asked

"Of course not,"Angel Chouji said with a smirk, "But I am telling you that you could if you wanted. Right now they see you as another tree, or something of equal import. No different than a bird at the river washing the dirt from it's feathers, beneath notice..."

Chouji felt a pang of anger at this. He understood that it was true for he had not been attacked yet but didn't know why it angered him. He stood and then looked around. There was a tall male galumphing about the clearing in a territorial manner. He was probably one of the younger of the males but he was definitely old enough to know certain tricks and hold dominance in the group. Chouji stepped up to it and the male stopped his lumbering and looked at Chouji. It sniffed in his direction lazily.

Chouji stripped off his armor and then his clothes until he wore only the pants that he had come with. He let his throat vibrate, a low growl coming forth. His lips rose, his teeth in a snarl. He knew the signs. What looked a smile was a challenge, what looked posture was a threat. The male picked up on this. Chouji gave a wide grin and humphed at him. The bear stood, twice as tall as Chouji on his hindquarters.

The Akimichi looked up at the bear and Angelic Chouji gave a whistle. "Looks like a big'un." he said, "You sure you want to get this far in the order? I don't have to tell you what happens to people who lose fights with wild bears, right?"

Chouji didn't care anymore. He stomped at the ground and gave small bear calls, egging the male on. The other bears were gathering, seeing the fight for what it was. This was a territory fight. The male switched from standing straight to standing on all fours every now and then. Chouji and him circled each other. The angelic Chouji had no reason for being around anymore, this was a battle Chouji had wanted, some bear beast fighting him just like home.

The other bears let in their calls, Kodiak in size and then some, all roaring for action. The male stepped forward first, a great paw swinging to maul Chouji's head off. The Akimichi stepped back and then forward after the swing missed. He gave the first genuine smile in a week. He was in his place again, with the bears. The bear swung again but Chouji ducked this one and rose, "Hiri!" Chouji called as he dealt a blow to the gut of the bear, "Dari!" He cried as he turned and elbowed the bear's side, "Sandi!" He cried a third call as he stepped behind the bear, grabbing it about the waist with over-sized arms. He groaned at the weight of the bear, much heavier than it should have been for its size. His feet cratered the ground as he lifted it. "G-Goami!" Chouji finished, lifting the bear from the ground and launching him backward, head first into the dirt some feet away. The other bears roared in passion and excitement. Even wild bears appreciated a good show.

Chouji hit the ground back first. He saw inverted the bear getting up, shaking off the throw. It advanced and Chouji had only the time to roll out of the way before the place he had been lying was rent from the ground. The other bears roared in applause, watching the fight patiently but still bristling with excitement.

Chouji regained his footing just in time for the paw to come out from his blind spot and send him flying into he row of bears behind him. The big brown furry masses pushed him back into the "ring" as it were. He stumbled, trying to regain his breath but the gigantic paw came from straight in front and tore is face wide open. He screamed, blood filling his eyes. His hand went to his cheek and he couldn't find it, just his tongue in his mouth. The bear had cleaved the lower left side of his face clean off. He could taste his blood and spit it out as best he could before turning back to the bear male. "Okay..." He said quietly, letting out a roar of bear might and he grew to match the size of his opponent.

The opponent hesitated long enough for Chouji to reach out and punch it in the jaw. The bear's teeth flew and lodged themselves into Chouji's fist in that one swing but the bear didn't fall, just turned and sought to finish the job on Chouji's right side. Chouji caught the arm and looked dead in the eyes of the male. He let out an ear splitting bear call right in his opponent's face.

And the real action began. Chouji and the bear wrestled in the muck, rolling from one side of the clearing to another. Every time the male got to his feet he would deal Chouji a blow but every time a blow was dealt Chouji would tackle the bear to the ground and deliver his own blows, not quite as piercing but definitely just as hard and more in number. The blood loss started to get to him after some time, though. Chouji knew he had to finish this quick. He hoped Polar Katas would do the trick.

Disengaging was difficult to say the least. The male was in fight mode and Chouji needed to get away before he started a kata. He slipped out of the rising strike, extended his leg and kicked the bear to its back before starting his kata. Chouji dodged around the next attack and leaped... and as he hit the ground beside his opponent he struck upward, double handed fists accompanied by a blast of pink snow gales from his mouth. They froze to the side of the bear and the male flew upward. As he came back down and hit the ground he stirred but Chouji was already above him, Kicking him into the air and stomping, blowing his icy breath at the ground to cover the area in snow.

The bear landed on his shoulders and Chouji caught him, lifting him up and growing further, time and a half the size of the bear he fought. The other bears roared and stirred and some backed off from the fright of Chouji growing and fighting on more than equal terms with a bear of such size. Chouji threw the bear down and then grew, now twice the size of his opponent. The other bear stood and look up at him, standing full height for a moment before realizing he was outmatched and falling back to all-fours. He backed off slowly, his head bowed.

Chouji shrank, the other bears walked off, continuing what they were doing. Chouji collapsed. The breath of ice that he had made had kept him from bleeding but the frost around him was melting, the blood starting once again to flow. Chouji felt his cheek, or lack thereof. That would certainly scar. His body was riddled with scars from his training but Chouji had always tried to keep his face untouched. First time for everything, he guessed. "You okay, big guy?" The angel Chouji asked, "Oh don't die on me here, buddy, we're almost done!"

Chouji didn't answer, he passed out instead. His angelic self was yelling Yuko's name when the black covered him.

And Chouji woke, this time in a room, in a bed, with Yuko leaning over him, a frown upon her lips. "Fighting bears..." She said simply, "Possibly the stupidest thing a human can think of doing and you won. Next time stay closer to me, Chouji-san." Chouji made to speak but pain coursed though his face, "And don't talk or you'll rip your stitches. I don't want to have to deal with that face again. I hope you'll appreciate these scars. You've earned word fame in the bears." Chouji closed his eyes soberly and went back to sleep.

He woke again, his face healed as it would ever be, a gnarled scar from the corner of his lip branching in four directions across his face. His ear was fine, fortunately but his left eye had lost a lot of good vision. He looked into the mirror Yuko gave him and got used to his new face. "When we get back home I'm sure Ed-chan will be able to fix it up a bit more but this was the bet I could do. Until then we have work to do."

"What kind of work?" Chouji asked simply, standing from his bed. "And where are we?"

Yuko didn't bother answering Chouji's second question, instead answering his first. She said, "I was once known as he Dimensional Witch. Little did I know this would happen but it has fatigued me. My power lies on the dimensions I have contact with, which in this case, is only one; Zombie World Earth. I need to set up a new nexus to restore my power or I may die." She didn't seem phased by this knowledge, either. Yuko kept straight faced as she spoke, "Even bringing you back with cheap parlor tricks wore me out considerably. I'll have to ask if you could carry me the rest of the way."

Chouji rose an eyebrow but didn't question anything... not anything except, "Why me?"

"You are an enigma to me, Chouji-san." Yuko responded, still not having stood since Chouji woke. Chouji wished he could have said the same but he guessed she already knew that, "Of all of the wishes have granted your is the only one I cannot. It interests me, teases and frustrates me. I am vexed that I have been put in this place and you are vexed as well, though far more than I. You're the only one of our fold that has not yet accepted their fate as a resident of this new world."

Chouji paused and then shook his head slowly, looking at the floor, "All I want to do is go home..."

"All any of us want is home, maybe not ours, but a home nonetheless. We have all accepted that there is no return save for you and now try to make it. Why can you not?" Yuko asked, her eyes half lidded. She produced her pipe and loaded it from a small bag in her sleeve. "Join me in a bit of alternative thinking, if you would..." Yuko sad, Chouji gigantic pipe suddenly in her hand and full as she handed it to Chouji before lighting her own pipe and drawing from it. The heavy green smell filled the room as she exhaled and smoke wafted about the ceiling. "What is it that you want from home?" She asked

Chouji pressed his thumb against the greenery in the bowl and drew from it, holding for a ten count as he thought. He spoke as the smoke drifted from his lips, "I want my friends..."

"You spent so long away from them I am surprised it matters. Who of your friends do you wish for most?" Yuko asked in response, her voice still flat and simple.

Chouji thought back. All of his images, of course, would have been skewed. The last memories of his friends, Shikamaru included, were ten years old. He wouldn't remember the accurately. He thought, "Ino and Shikamaru, my old team."

"Do you not have your friend, Shikamaru-san, in your dreams and thoughts?"

"Not the same..." Chouji mumbled

"Nor is he the same as when you left him. The Shikamaru you returned to may have been stupid and a complete failure, having given up on things after you left."

Chouji had to admit that Shikamaru did give up a lot... But still, "I miss the Polar Clan."

Yuko drew again from her pipe and, as she spoke Chouji took his turn, "The bears from your world are a thousands of years old civilization. They cannot exist here, no civilization yet does. If you want to make the Polar Clan then find polar bears and make it but you cannot return to that nor would they let you if they found out you are reacting to such a thing as you are."

Chouji thought on this as he smoked. "The world of the ninja," Kuma-Oumono had once told him, "Is not the only world that lives. Hyōga Sanmyaku is truly to massive to take residence in your world. We work in portals, way points from world to world. If you ever find yourself in a world where you cannot reach us, give it up. If we cannot reach you then you cannot reach anyone. There are other worlds that are yet to be settled. You have always aspired to be The Beast Man, cub. You know enough to be the genesis, you just need to accept it and work toward a better future."

Chouji sighed, "I'll help you build your nexus..." he said to Yuko, "But I won't give up on my homeland."

Yuko nodded and the room disappeared. They were back in the clearing with the bears. Yuko was passed out at Chouji's feet, The Akimichi was standing next to his clothes, wearing his pants, face still tight and scarred. The bears approached him. He understood. He was alpha after that show of power, whenever ago that had been. Bears didn't forget such things, they didn't forget the smell of a victor.

Chouji looked at the unconscious body of Yuko. Was she really as drained as she said? Surely laying on the ground couldn't be taking too much effort from her but Chouji had no doubt her power was dangerously depleted; she hardly breathed at all. He sat and smoked, breathing the musk into the faces of passing bears, thinking on what to do. Some bears sat with him, some ignored him. Some brought small dead animals to him; for food of course.

And he thought. "So you want to know how it's done?" a rumbling bestial mirror of Chouji's voice echoed from beside him. He turned his head and there stood something ferocious. It was a man, Chouji thought, a man covered in elk blood tattoos and with gnarled features but certainly still a mirror image of the Akimichi in a different circumstance.

"What" Chouji asked?

"Them, ascention." The man pointed at some of the bears.

Chouji balked at the comment. What did the beast Chouji mean?

"Bears are human creatures by nature. They have the claws of man in a paw and a mind as useful as yours when utilized correctly. They are curious but cautious and well wise in the ways of everything. Show them what they can do here and they will do it."

Chouji was confused. "Ask and you shall receive," Beast Chouji said, disappearing.

Chouji shook his head in confusion. What had that meant. He looked at the other bears. What could Chouji's counterpart have meant by ascention. Surely he didn't mean to make them as intelligent as the polar clan...

Chouji thought again. "What can they do?" Chouji asked himself.

"What could they do then?" Shikamaru's voice popped in Chouji's head

That was a good question. Polar Bears could do anything a man could do and do it better. Chouji thought to their works of star cast, one of the purest, strongest metals to exist. He looked at his armor, the scroll at his belt that lie on the ground. His mind worked. He rushed to his scroll and opened it. The forge came alive. Chouji carried a forge in one of his storage scrolls for armor maintenance but he knew better than to fix his banded plate right now. He blew the fires into existence and walked to the edge of the clearing, the wall of trees stopping him from further advance. "Ask and you shall receive," Chouji parroted. "May I please take your wood from you?"

A nearby tree fell with a crack. It wasn't huge but it would do the job. Chouji smiled. He chopped the wood and put it in the forge. In mere hours the fires had been brought to full life and the forge that Chouji had constructed long ago was being once again put to use. He took his armor and bent it, rending the steel and tossing it into the melting pot. He took his chain and mail and tossed that in too. It was all steel, it would melt together. He blew at the fires with the bellows and the bears gathered, curious to what what their new alpha was doing. In more hours the metal was melted down. Chouji poured the liquid metal into a cast. The bears watched silently at his artifice.

As Chouji reached for the tongs he thought on something. The Polar Clan used no tools save for their hammers. He looked at the cooling metal and then at his tools... and threw them all down save for his hammer.

The bears watched and Chouji grabbed the hot steel, his hands blistering instantly. He resisted the urge to scream as he worked, banging and folding, sweating and grunting in agony as the hot metal burned his hands away to charred bone and muscle. The bears continued to watch.

Days went by, Yuko did not rise, though she did not weaken. Chouji melted down work after work, new thing after new thing Armor, swords, knives, ornaments, jewelry. He knew so little in comparison to the Polar Clan but he knew that bears probably had better say of this forest than he and he worked to teach them what he knew.

And after days, the first bear stepped up to him, tall on her hindquarters, the she-bear he had met first. She stepped toward the fire, inquiry in her wise old eyes and that spark of intelligence that Chouji had not seen but days before. Clumsily she touched the hot steel as Chouji pounded at it. She pulled back momentarily at the heat but then let her paws rest back on it, sizzling noise from her pads. She fumbled with the hammer for a moment, then lifted it in her long claws, and then tapped it gently on the red metal, a "ching" sound coming forth. Chouji realized something, she was associating. It was the first steps toward intelligence, sapience. She repeated, this time a little harder and then again, and again!

The other bears took notice and learned. Their progress over the next few days was ground-breaking. They seemed to learn off of each other more than Chouji, and twice as effectively as a human. They had the drive to learn, Chouji figured, having been piqued in their interests and eager to experiment Chouji taught them how to build huts and how to shape metal. He taught them how to cut the wood for the coal to run their fires. He taught them how to drink from containers and he taught the how to speak the human language, though only just, almost non-proficient but broken enough to get key concepts down.

For an individual who quite literally spoke bear, as Chouji was, it was easier than he thought. These bears didn't speak the high tongue of the Polar Clan but what seemed a bastardization of it and his words got across well enough to them, though apparently a bit strange.

The last male had stepped up and challenged him but Chouji knew what he had to do and ended the fight quickly at seven stories tall, dominating the clearing. All bears knew that Chouji was the head bear, whether they liked it or not.

Yuko regained consciousness after that, groggy and weak but still just as eloquent. She smiled dryly at the little village the bears had been making, sitting in the wooden pavilion they had set up for her. "My, my, Chouji-san. I didn't know you could do it."

"Shh." Chouji urged from just outside as he and the bears looked at the stars, reading them, finding out things that the bears surely could have never found out on their own without his help. He pointed to a star, "North Star." He said the the three bears who sat on their haunches next to him, "Always know the way home by this star and home you will all know when we see it." He spoke in the bear tongue

The three bears all gave nods. "This is Yuko-san." He pointed to Yuko, "She is my friend." The bears again nodded. "You have been taught by me to help her. In whatever she needs of you until we come to my home." The bears looked at Yuko and sniffed at her. The Dimensional Witch did not flinch. The bears each sniffed at her in turn and then parted from her to sit near Chouji once more. They all nodded. "We are to help her through the forest when the time has come. She will say."

Yuko raised an eyebrow. It was evident that she did not actually speak bear, though her lips were curved into a wry smirk. Chouji gave a nervous look to Yuko. "They're new to sapience." He told her, "They'll have a hard time understanding things not of bear nature."

Yuko looked around at the budding species. Bears she hadn't know were so intelligent, just trudging along that fine line between sapience and sentience. How strange it must seem to them, this new outlook on life and a human to know their language enough to teach them. They knew very little but experience. I was what they had done, not what they had potential to do for they knew not what that potential was. These beasts knew how to hunt, live in the wild, and pound metal.

Yuko knew it was time for the plan to progress. She envied Chouji a bit, which was an interesting prospect since she clearly had more power now than he did, in practical thought power, at least. In a way she also pitied him. He didn't know what he was going to become. Yuko came from the web of dimensions that Chouji did. This was under her jurisdiction. Chouji had lifted the bears to sapience, inserting Akimichi Chouji into a web of dimensions where he did not belong. The goal now was to make it stick, to make it a bigger, more permanent construct. Chouji had to make himself known to a countrywide scale. He had to make history. "Chouji-san?" Yuko spoke with a calming command. "Are you ready to take the next step in this process?"

Chouji looked back to Yuko. "Why am I doing this, Yuko-san?"

"To let go of your lost past," Yuko explained, "You must accept and acknowledge it's presence and yet understand that those days are forever lost to you. These are new days in a new world. You must carry what you may, as Blackstar does in his fighting gear. You must bring you ninja ways and work them into the new civilization, as all of us are. We come from Zombie successful timelines and dimensions and that is all they care about in this case."

Chouji sighed. "Am I going to get a choice in this?"

And the world became space. Yuko floated through the cosmos around Chouji, his eyes threatening to bun out of his skull as he peered into... everything. He couldn't close his orbs nor move his hands to shield them. An orchestra of action was displayed before him as the cosmic forces slammed into each other, galaxies doing battle with galaxies on the universal scale. Yuko floated just in his view, just so his attention could barely latch onto hers and keep his attention behind everything else.

"You are currently the smallest pawn in the biggest game of chess anyone could ever know. It is a game you cannot help but to play, for whenever you die you are recycled. Eventually you'll become human again. Your memories will stay behind and, eventually, you'll know what you are part of. Ask yourself if you have a choice in it, Akimichi Chouji, and you will know what you want in life and what will be your attachment to this world." Her voice was like silk lain upon velvet landscape, the galaxies changing, molding into something complete, into something greater and better. "The Grand Scale does indeed have your fondest wish in mind when it puts you to the test but it is because something cannot be gained without something paid in return. It must always be equal, no more and no less. The Universe gets that payment regardless of your will."

Chouji struggled to blink and, when he finally got it the scene was gone and Yuko sat beside him, back in the clearing with the bears. "So that's a no." Chouji muttered

"That's a question you have to figure out yourself," Yuko's deep feminine voice whispered into his ears.

Chouji sighed. "I'll never be unlike the stone, Yuko-San. I dislike change, it uneases me."

"But the stones in galaxies are the size of this world and they smash together and make new worlds. You will live to see races uplifted into sapience, world will form and develop and fall before your life ends and you take to the ultimate world beyond."

Chouji grumbled. "I'm not saying yes to this... But I'll work with you for now."

He stood and looked upon his family, his clan. What would this be? "My Friends," He called out in the bear tongue, "My Friend Yuko-san says we must move. What we have built we shall leave or bring but we must be away. How say you we do this?"

The bears looked at each other, exchanged noises of contemplation. The eldest female gave a call. Chouji nodded.

He turned to Yuko, "You have made an accord?" Yuko asked in a bit of confusion. Bear was a language she did not know, despite knowing many.

"They will bring their first tools with them. Some fear not being connected to the tool will steal the secrets from their heads. Some just have pride in their work." Chouji said

"Every bear you find you must uplift. Bring out their true nature and add them to your group. The bears of this world are yours to assist in their own enlightenment. They will aid each other in finding out what they are and what to do."

Chouji nodded somberly. Yuko could tell he still didn't want this. It wasn't his time to take on such responsibility and, due to powers beyond even Yuko's control, He had been thrust into his new place without so much as having seen his own kind in his own village. Now he had to deal with new people, new powers, a new village and the fact that all the people he had been training to impress would never be able to see the progress he had made just for them. Hopefully Yuko would be able to get him through the very worst of the shock of that long earned luxury so cruelly taken from him soon and only have to leave him with a begrudging acceptance of the reality of it all until he could truly learn peace with it. Chouji was against the thought but he was still a logical person. Nobody had a choice in living in the apocalypse.

They walked for two days through the thick forests. Soon the ground grew rockier, the trees began to thin and the prey items began to show; rich in presence and profound in variety and health. Some creatures Yuko herself had never seen, though were still mundane in quality. Many animals were friendly, some were skittish. Others were large and reclusive but cunningly watched from afar, guardian of the wood. Chouji walked with his bears and every bear they found they engaged in conversation of the bear tongue. Chouji and his bears issued dominance and earned respect in the animal community. Food bearing plants were plentiful and the bears lack of selected flesh with woodland guardians onlooking was not without satisfaction in nature's goodies. Every bear learned of the pounding of metal that they passed, following the band. At the dawn of day three 100 bears had been uplifted to Sapience.

Chouji awoke early, the bears around them mostly awake as the dawn sliver peeked over the horizon. He looked upon Yuko as she lay asleep. She had been more and more tired the past couple of days. She would still march on but she nodded off fast as they walked and needed prompting more often than not on direction, since Chouji was a little clueless as to where they were going. Yuko did lead the way well, though. They were never without shelter at night at least. This last night it had been a large tree with a hollow area inside; a wayward pine. Chouji and Yuko had found comfort under it and many of the bears were laden down with fat and fur enough to not need shelter from the rain. "Yuko-san, why are we on this trek?"

Yuko looked back at Chouji, trying to keep composure. It was getting harder and harder for her to move. It was hard to tell anymore how old she was as well. Was it forty or four-hundred? Everything was buzzing together, trying to access a network Yuko had no chance of getting information from anymore. She needed to get to that point, wherever it was that she was being pulled. She had enough power yet to detect the source. "We're going to get me a job in this web."

Chouji cocked his head in confusion. "I don't get it."

"My job," Yuko began as they stepped through the sparse undergrowth, "Was to grant wishes in my old dimension. I was the dimensional witch, who was connected to all places in my little shop. My position in the new world will be something a bit more grandiose, I believe but it is still what I will do. I must connect to the spirits of this world." Yuko stumbled and Chouji reached for her but she caught herself on a tree trunk nearby instead. "After I set up a nexus for my powers at the new capital I will not have to worry about anything"

"Then why are we here instead of there?" Chouji asked

"Because there is nothing magical there but there is where we are going." Yuko responded simply.

Chouji was a bit taken aback. It all sounded very silly really. As the day passed on the two did not talk much save for Chouji's pointing things out to everyone for the betterment of the bears. They encountered a few who came along and a few who did not, looming on Sapience to become rogues. Some didn't learn at all. Some they didn't teach. Eventually they crested the forests and encountered civilization, or what could have been civilization at one point. Now it was a complex guarded by scraps of the old world. Inside were people who knew fear at all times of the day and probably didn't intend fully on living as long as the day would prove to test them. Many suspected that before the day was done they would be dead. On the horizon a herd of people, slowly marching toward the stronghold. Chouji could hear the moans despite being miles away; the monstrous cacophony of demonic hellish moaning. They needed help. Hundreds of people, perhaps more, were waiting to die inside the stronghold. They could be brought to safety, that many people. Yuko smiled grinned silently behind Chouji. He bears grew agitated.

"Those," Chouji began aloud in the human tongue of Japan, "Are a plague on the world, brothers. Those people will become as we are and the monsters are to be destroyed. Do not allow their teeth to pierce your flesh or you will surely die, no matter ho strong your blood. If you smell the taint on a man from a wound kill him. Break their skulls or they will not die." The bears all grunted and groaned in agreement. Yuko knew that the ones who did not understand Chouji's human words understood the intention and would get word along the grapevine. Bears were organized when they had to be, Yuko had come to find. It was their way.

Yuko could see it around Chouji, the aura of godhood. She was making a god, she knew. Chouji could not uplift a new species and help her set up a nexus of power for a new humanity without ascending to such a level. None of the Legacy Of Eight would be able to escape that fate. The traces of divinity rapped around Chouji. Though he hadn't started the most powerful the Dimensional Witch knew that Chouji's position would be closely related to the people. He was not a tactician or a warrior but he was a person who could put people in line. His portion of the government would be just and right; to the heart of the law, not the letter. The strong chains of gossamer silk that enshrouded him in the witch's eyes grew stronger even now, gradually spinning themselves into existence around the former ninja.

"You are changing, Chouji-san." Yuko said with a smile "Soon I may have to start referring to you with a different honorific."

"I am not in my world anymore," Chouji said quietly as the bears bristled for combat, the journey to the hoard just short of the village. And you are not in Japan. This is the new world and I am a ghost of the old world. So too will all people who join the organization."

"You were so resistant too." Yuko said. "This is all false, I still believe." Chouji said. "But if I must do it that is what I must do."

Yuko sighed. He would be difficult to sway, even if he was slowly pulling his way into godhood. Soon, though. Yuko knew that he would fall to the realization that there was no hope.

Chouji roared. The bears roared. One especially large bear who had held quite some territory before uplift raced forward and soon the other bears drowned him out in a wall of ursine figures, 118 strong. Yuko was swept up at some point on the back of a bear. Chouji had bulled through and, at some points, leaped entirely out of the horde, landing far ahead. The bears charged for three hours, full roar and battle ready. There would be every zombie in the world around wanting to come to them now. The dimensional witch even saw zombies behind them that they had passed and were left behind. This was madness. They would be surrounded. Was that Chouji's plan?

When they finally arrived the zombies were closing in on the location of the walled village. The bears had arrived just when they needed to and they didn't even seem tired. The moaning from hours travel wasn't bad but up close Yuko was discomfited to say the least. She looked up to the walls of the village to see people mounting up crude defenses for their little place. Chouji was roaring out in the bear tongue to his bears, all of which but a few were listening, the remainder ion lookout, no doubt still able to hear the Akimichi's words. Yuko was let down. The bears roared fiercely as Chouji formed some mudras, growing to three stories tall, enough to simply crush any zombie with his metal lined boots. There were screams from the village. These people, Yuko remembered, had never seen anything but standard technology. They had the potential for anything imagined but they weren't aware of it and had no reason to be.

There had once been a point where Ichihara Yuko had been no different, she supposed. But... when had that been? Yuko put a hand to her head. In the village, she knew. She had to get into the village. She stepped away. Chouji had this. The moaning was so loud. Her feet were weak but strong enough at least to pull her to the town "gate;" a school bus with metal over the side of it. People saw her, she knew. It was hard not to see the only human in the sea of bears with a giant. She could tell they didn't trust it just yet.

Just one more parlor trick would do it, but at what cost, Yuko couldn't help but wonder. It was worth the chance she would take. The goal was just inside...

And as the bears charged forth to meet the zombie horde, thousands strong against just over a hundred bears, the crash met with Yuko's voice echoing in everybody's head in the village. _We are friends to all of you. Do not fire on us. Please, let me in and we shall speak terms. _Yuko's soul seemed to tug hard at her mind. It needed energy from her that she did not have. Her body grew subtly hollow. If she lived through this it would leave a scar on her soul that would take some doing to heal.

As she leaned against the wall next to the gate a zombie somehow had slipped through the bears. It came on her and Yuko, for a moment, grew fearful. The zombie's head blew apart and it fell away from her. The bus moved a few feet and two men with strong arms came out and carried her inside before the bus moved back. Nothing looked quite right. Her vision was growing weak. "Who are you and what's going on?" A strong voice asked her.

She had to do this didn't she? "I am Ichihara Yuko," She said, pushing the two people back and pushing herself up in her tattered dress, beautiful as it was but now torn and unattractive, just like any clothing in the wasteland. "The Dimensional Witch. I ask of you to lead me to a place in your village. It is of the utmost importance."

The man in front of her, black of hair and broad of shoulders but not too tall, cocked his head. "You presume to come into our home during war and demand to get a guided tour?"

"If you won't forget my friends are the ones winning this war for you." _And soon enough you will all be serving under the new world order that is the Legacy Of Eight_ Yuko wanted to say, but she didn't have the power anymore to back that statement.

"There will be words when this is all over. Jowls, take her wherever she wants to go." The man said as he walked away

"It will be something natural, like a stream or a boulder." Yuko spoke up as her guide came, a short round man with more skin on his face and neck than a turkey. "Maybe a pond."

"Something like a tree?" A child's voice asked from behind her. "We got a big tree in the back we does."

"Thank you child." Yuko said as she turned to see a little redhead, freckles everywhere. There was a glow to her. Yuko couldn't put her finger on it. "The tree is how big?"

"Big," the growling voice of Jowls said, taking Yuko by the wrist and dragging her along. She near fell over from exhaustion several times but managed to hang on just enough to keep walking, wobbling off one foot onto another.

They turned around a corner and then through a wall and around another corner and... That was it! "Oh thank all gods." Yuko muttered. Jowls growled "Huh?" but Yuko had already slipped through his grip and started walking to the tree. The fat man waddled after her but her walking was more fall than walk. She almost ran as she neared the tree and dove face-first into it.

The world was dark. She floated serenely inside the tree, wide as a sedan was long, green as could be and so healthy. It was full of magical energy, full of life and power. The voice was around her, little children from all sides, hundreds of them. "What are you doing here?" it asked, thousands of little voices chattering in the background.

"I'm here to make a pact with you and access the power of this web of dimensions." Yuko spoke immediately.

"You had power once." The one true voice of thousands spoke, deep and commanding. "Why would you consort with a lesser being such as myself. Spirits of communities or great forests. I am but one lone tree and its children."

"Yet you have the power to become more. I will help you if you will only become the conduit for me. Lend me your children and lend me yourself as a pathway to me. You will in time profit from the connection. I draw more power to myself than you would think."

The tree's deep voice did not answer. Buzzing gossip in child voice roared around her, too many voices to differentiate one from the other. _Please just consent_ Yuko begged in her mind, away from the tree's hearing The tree spoke. "My children wonder what will come to them for serving you. I know my time is not horribly far but what will my countless daughters receive from your bondage?"

"I promise no damage shall befall them. How about we work on this in the decade. Surely a pact of friendship will work this through. I will help that time to slip away a bit faster than you approach it. Your children are not far from expansion and you will be given the chance to bore true children and expand through the astral."

The silence slowly crept on as the buzzing in the background grew fierce. Yuko knew not to listen to them, she wanted to big voice. Trees always did take a while to make up their minds. It seemed like an hour when the deep commanding voice spoke. "The humans do not ever chop me down. Make sure of it. And unbind me from this harder than stone prison. Then we shall wait a decade to decide a full deal. Until then I will have you connect to the spirits through me. I know not what you are to do, human, but I shall work with you for at least that long."

"In time you will know of me as Ichihara Yuko," She said, "And I am glad we could make a deal. I will repay you. Everything must be equal."

The tree grew monumentally. The metal walls were pushed out and the roots widened and sank deeper into the earth. Leaves grew, split and fell, grew, split, opened and multiplied again. Yuko stepped out of the bark as the folk, who had chainsaws ready, scrambled back. "This tree is to never be trimmed by human kind. You all have borne witness to this. It shall protect you and I shall protect it upon its power." Yuko threw her hands up and a branch twisted around her waist placing her daintily on a high bough. "This power is enough to save our bears from death, at least." Yuko mused quietly, "For that you will receive great thanks."

Yuko snapped her fingers and seeds formed in her palm. The heavy bough stretched over the near battlefield and she tossed them effortlessly onto the field. Wood spikes came from the ground, piercing through heads. The tree was fulfilling its end of the bargain. It was taking care of the zombie threat for her so the people would not cut it down and so she could set up a nexus. It wasn't too great a place to start but to link it back to the capital would be good enough to open the first few doors into her old position. Her power had diminished vastly but now that she had an in her knowledge ha returned fully of what she would need to do. Trees were often very good starting points for this sort of thing. Trees held themselves firmly in place under even the most unrelenting force. The battle was won, whether anyone believed what was going on or not.

After an hour of the tree growing and conquering the leaves, having been deep green before, were red from the taking in of so much blood. Yuko knew the tree would be fine. It could process the virus like animals could not. Solanum had never been a threat to plants. Zombies corpses would be turned under the soil every now and then from the roots. The already powerful tree didn't need to worry that blood wasn't good for it. The power of being connected heavily into the supernatural would bolster it from any amount of corpses. In three weeks it would be healthier than ever before. It just had to kick this cold first.

The people were dumbstruck, their village having been completely destroyed and yet none of them were dead. "You have seen that we can protect you and this is all we wish to do," Yuko called out from a low bough. "We have a home that we can take you to if you will walk for some days. The bears will not eat you and we will feed you. Just come with us."

The people didn't know what to say, it was clear. A few hundred people who had been raised to think magic didn't exist had just undeniably seen it. Some were praying to gods. Some were slack jawed. Some were already walking to Yuko's side. Chouji was already stepping back as his bears were mopping up the battlefield, crushing what heads they knocked off but hadn't destroyed yet. In time the tree would dispose of those bodies too, as no wildlife would dare eat it. It would be tilled under the earth in time and decay back into what it was meant to be; more dirt for the land. Chouji could see it in the people, fear. He knew that people had just seen something like never before. They wanted out but they knew that out meant death and staying with these strange people with a herd of bears was the safest way if there ever was one.

"This man is who is responsible for bringing me. He is more responsible for saving you than I. Respect him for he is a great man and he will protect you in the years to come." She called

Chouji stepped forward as Yuko beckoned him, his body now more human and less giant. He was still big, that much was obvious. But at least he was just human sized again. "I am Akimichi Chouji." He called out in English. Magic was what bound this speech though, as Chouji knew very well he couldn't actually speak english but Yuko's presence certainly let his words be heard, no matter the language barrier. "I am here to bring you back to a home where you do not have to fear zombie hordes walking up on you in the night. You can learn ways to fight this as we do, with skill and power instead of fear and weaponry of a time past. You are trying to be ghosts of the old world. We have a place for that. All of you who do not want to remain ghosts of the past, all of you who don't want the life of an old world survivalist, come with us and embrace the new world, a new civilization under a better system than you had before. We are just and have supplies and we only ask that you do a hard day's work for the food in your mouth, clothes on your back and roof over your head. Help us build this world anew and the new world will support you!"

The remaining people stood in shock. Half of them crossed over to their side right off. Three score more people filtered slowly over, eventually leaving nobody behind. Mothers with babes at the breast to strong armed men who had lived before the time of the zombie and fought the entire way just to survive caved under the logical reasoning that this man had a hundred trained bears and could grow four stories tall and this woman made a big tree turn monumental and kill half the oncoming zombies, shattering the force for the bears to clean up. The tree was still growing quickly, fruits of all shapes and sizes growing and falling and regrowing as it gradually grew outward. To them the gods had either answered their prayers or the devil himself had arrived with temptation. They took it either way.

And the two week journey back was hardly stressed at all. The number of bears doubled, two hundred bears at their heels when they arrived back home, five hundred individuals as a whole; five hundred mouths to feed, just over two hundred of them bear mouths. Chouji and Yuko alike were happy that so many people had put lots of food on their lists, enough to feed cities.

The remainder of the Legacy Of Eight were dumbfounded. No sooner had Chouji gotten everyone in place had the bears been sent out to scour the area for zombies and gather loose materials from the land. Chouji addressed the people. He assured them that they would be taken care of well and that they would find homes if they would make them. There were plenty of trees and they would be taught how to make new homes. Some people were sent to chopping wood for structures while Yuko walked over the land and asked of willing plants.

Chouji knew what was going to need to happen now. He was a ghost of the old world. He needed children to take to raise them into the system. Sekai Mae No Obake was the organization he would bring to this world; The Ghosts of The Old World. He would need to train children in the ways of his world, the way of the ninja of the hidden villages. He had a feeling Yuko would be choosing children as well for her world's works; for dimensional magic.

He had fled to the capital building for some hours. Yuko sauntered into the room, more brilliant than the first day Chouji had seen her, now all dressed back up and clean, full of life. Chouji was serious. He had lost two bears in the battle, unkempt masses of fur and teeth and claws and only two of them had died. He didn't get just what he had created. "You have founded your organization, Sekai Mae No Obake. I hope that it and Nexus will be working closely henceforth, Akimichi-dono." She spoke satisfied, a kimono of gray with maroon bears dotted throughout. Her hair was laced up in some fancy work of art, less hair more art it seemed. Chouji didn't quite know what to think of it.

He was the boss ghost, ultimate say in Sekai Mae No Obake. He was the line that everyone drew to keep from corruption. Chouji sighed out his frustration. "This is Yakuza." He said quietly as he stood and lifted his armor over his head, placing it on the floor. "We must be willing to move with the times. We work for the common people and their business... We have no other choice."

Yuko smiled as Chouji took off his battle worn clothing, the mantle of a warrior that he was removing, nude underneath the two layers of clothing he had. He was built like stone, not jiggling or sagging at all, just steel hard flesh that would have no give were one to poke it with a finger. Scars riddled his body. So much training he had had, Yuko knew, all for impressing a group he would never see again. Yuko chanced a look between Chouji's legs and almost giggled in embarrassment. _That one would suffice,_ she thought with an impish smile. Chouji stepped to his closet, paying her peeking no mind. She said, "You must take it upon yourself to wear the mark."

"Of all Yakuza, I'm aware." Chouji confessed. "You're better with tattoo than I." Chouji had only the tattoos on his face, the swirls like any of his clan would get or something similar at birth.

Yuko's hands pressed lightly on his back as Chouji searched through the closet, pulling out a black silk suit with maroon dress shirt and black dress slacks. Yuko ran her hands through his hair and the Akimichi's mane evened out: growing less untamed, more straightened, glossier. The unhealthy hair fell to the ground and his hair thinned but Yuko could tell it would grow back to normal in a month. She rubbed her hands about his back slowly, calmly. "This will hurt. It will never fade like some guns or needles. You will never know freedom from its mark."

"You know I must." Chouji spoke.

"You do not lie" Yuko spoke as she lay Chouji down on his bed stomach-first. She straddled his waist, her thin body nothing on his wide, heavy frame. Her nails dug in and he groaned. The ink splashed through his back from nowhere as if his pores meant nothing, as if a million tattoo needles were already at work invisibly doing what they were meant to, full of ink and masterful in artistic prowess. Chouji took it all very well. Normal Yakuza back in Yuko's old Japan would take their full body tattoos in sessions, too painful was it to bear. Chouji couldn't have been feeling too different, his knuckles white as he gripped the bed but he did not make a sound.

The ink cast about his back in colors that took turns moving. The yellow would splash ahead of the deep reds and the green would sting into the picture, lacing across here and there to line things up properly. Perspective came into play and the picture literally moved into place. Shapes took form and those forms danced across Chouji's back magically, looking for the best place to stop and remain eternally. Some moved arther from his flesh, into the picture and shrinking in the distance. Some images came coser to the surface of the flesh, looming at th edge of magic and reality just underneath the Akimcihi's skin. Chouji thought that the tattoo would remain until he died and rotted away no doubt. Yuko couldn't find it in her to tell him that he would never be allowed to die no matter how long he lived. None of them would.

Finally, after some minutes, the shapes stopped in place, content on their location and identity. Chouji tattoos chose him, not the other way around. Chouji hadn't even shed tears. The brush and canvas had accepted each other and found the true way. Chouji's back was covered and it curved around and about his flesh. Bears dotted his body with one great polar bear in the center of his back holding a yin/yang. Butterflies floated in between the framework as butterflies do, unable to be caught, freely doing what they would. From one scapula the wing of a beautiful blue tropical bird grew but the opposing scapula sprouted the wing of a gargoyle, stony and demonic in appearance. Down his arms sleeves of plant-life braided into themselves. Tree branches and vine patterns, tropical herbs and basic herbal ingredients to "Grandma's Stew." The mundane plants and extraordinary ones met harmony on the muscles of his arms.

Fire dancedbetween the wings of bird and gargoyle both, licking up from his back onto his neck and shoulders, curving up his cheeks and extending to eleven fingers, one hand with six. It represented the people he had left behind, the black shadow fingers like ashen burns, long and grasping upward from his throat. The swirls of his Akimichi heritage burned themselves deeper into his flesh: a darker red, angrier and more vibrant than before, burning through the shadow fingers that tried to crawl up to his eyes. His chest was a Banyan tree surrounded by a graveyard as he stood, the verdant tree overshadowing the land happy and thriving more than any tree could in the bleak gray wasteland that lie around it. Ghosts of animals and humans alike loomed half inside graves, crawling out mournfully.

Eight moons loomed above the banyan, each with a different symbol etched into the face: A ghostly figure with a pipe etched behind it, a comet, a black road with a black star at the end, a hand with crossed middle and index fingers with a nondescript motherly figure looming behind with open arms, a multicolored whirlpool, a hand pointing straight up and its shadow more finely detailed than it, a full cornucopia with a syringe, microscope and test tube next to it and a textbook with the symbol for infinity on the cover.

His legs were stone and metal, craggy in design and gray in appearance. Healthy brown also worked along his legs and, occasionally, some veins of platinum or gold, even some purest shining black. The works of earth melded into the background, only there if you cared to look for it and what you saw who could say. Chouji's legs had become a mystery in "find whatever you want to see." It almost looked like Chouji's legs were truly made of stone and earth and metal but, when Yuko touched them and Chouji's leg twitched back she found it still just flesh. It was stern, well muscled flesh but flesh nonetheless. Chouji stood and dressed himself, finally taking a fedora from Yuko to top himself off. His business suit with maroon dress shirt underneath was smashing and the over-sized fedora fit just right around his head and mane. The scar on the left side of his face was marked over, strange as it seemed, the shadow hands reaching up effortlessly through the scarred flesh where a bear had torn half his face off. His hands were leopard printed on the front. The backs of them were like the stony fingers of a demon, claw illustrations worked into his knuckles to add realism.

Looking at Yuko Chouji found himself feeling more comfortable than he had thought he would be. His back screamed in pain but underneath the suit she had made for him from elsewhereness the pain didn't feel so bad. This was the skin for him, he knew. The ink would never leave because it would kill him to make it so. Ink and flesh longed for each other and now together they would never handle being away, even if magic of prodigious type separated them. He breathed deep through his nose and gathered his pipe, hanging it by his belt through a net of threads where it was held. He tucked a knife in each sleeve and in one shoe. He put a knife in his breast pocket and a small sheet of metal he put in his left breast pocket to guard his heart. He slid a razor into the brim of his fedora "Bring me to them. I must find apprentices."

"A fine idea." Yuko said smiling.

As they went the people who wanted out, the ones who were old or young or feeble or just plain not for the wasteland; they stepped aside, knowing Chouji for who he was. Some young women gossiped quietly, though Chouji's sharp ears heard them talking about how attractive he was cleaned up from battle. The scar on his face itched but he didn't scratch it. The innocents did their best not to meet his gaze. He didn't give them much of a fight in that regard. Vash was already gathering some able people up for building things. Chouji looked at those who had flocked to him and chose first of all not to take them under his wing. They looked peace loving. He needed volunteers. Nobody would be a part of the ghosts if they didn't want to. These people would be policemen and drug salesmen, if that made any sense. Though to Chouji it made sense, for that was the only way the two companies wouldn't start wars with each other.

There was already a lineup, so it seemed. Vincent had gathered the able men and women for him to inspect. Chouji was thankful Vincent, a man with a cool head and ample battle sense, was the one picking people out who may be useful in the cause of protecting and serving. He could judge a good cop from a potentially corrupt thug.

Chouji could too. He walked the length of the line a few times. Told a couple girls to excuse themselves, told a couple more men to excuse themselves, cuffed one for attacking him over not thinking he was good enough. Chouji didn't want people like that and he had to open this with a cold, hard iron hand until he could prove he wasn't all horrible power and hard stony intentions. He spoke to some people. Alayne Marks was an infant when the zombies happened, she was 25 years old and had fought zombies all her life, having been born in one of the first cities to be infected. Her parents got into an in-city bunker and held in for some years but when her mother died on a food run up top her and her father had to get out of town and start anew. Well her father got bit and she had to put him down. Years later she was here, still just trying to survive. Chouji appreciated it. She would be one of his four first students. She was fit and active, well coordinated and had a hold of her anger.

She was fine with getting her entire body tattooed, it turned out, but that did turn some people away. Yakuza had to wear the mark of full body tattooing. Chouji wasn't about to change that age old tradition. One individual who was more than happy to do it was Xollo Robinson, whose mother had been from the middle east and whose father had been an American. He liked to train for battle but he also liked to smoke the cannabis that had grown like weeds in Oregon after the zombies took over. Years of cross-pollination in the wild had only proven to make the many strains of the area more pure and potent. Chouji asked him if he would be willing to take a challenge and he said yes. Fifteen minutes later Chouji slid The Mace back into it's belt net and moved onto the next potential student. Vincent knew to mark Xollo's name down on the list. Chouji had smoked him to the dirt and then just a bit more. Chouji hadn't smiled the entire time but would have been lying outrageously if he had said that Xollo hadn't made him ease his mind a little. He was an upbeat sort, at least.

Chouji met a girl named Alexis Meriwether who wanted to help people but didn't want to be seen doing. She didn't care how much pain she had to go through to get it so long as she could just become nothing when she wanted. Chouji knew how to give her that power. The girl needn't mar her face and she was plain enough that such a thing wouldn't even be difficult to grant to her. She would be his third apprentice. Lastly, a boy of 12 named Alexander Graham who looked like a young man of 17. He already had a light beard trying to grow in and he was tall and broad like Chouji. He'd gotten his growth spurt earlier though. His messy dirty blond hair was cut short and he was put into some twenty pound leg weights directly under Chouji's teaching. He was hesitant at first but Yuko was the one to talk him into it, convincing the poor child that this would be where he put himself aside for the new world. Chouji brought them to the training building he had built some weeks ago, the training hall.

"You have all agreed to become my apprentices." He said. Poor Xollo was baked out of his head. Kid probably couldn't process a word Chouji was saying. "Becoming leading ghosts of the old world. You must learn jutsu, such as this." Chouji formed three mudras and snapped his fingers. The dark of the training hall lit up between them, a flame afloat above Chouji's hand. "Depending on your element you will learn this but until then I will teach you the basics at an advanced pace. You four are my personal apprentices and, for now, we cannot afford to train you at a normal pace. You must become better than you have ever been expected to be. We are Sekai Mae No Obake. We are the ghosts that hold the new world together.

"You will learn," Chouji said calmly, "You will practice." His other hand formed stone in its palm, a pebble lifting into the air, "And you will utilize," The stone and fire came together, burning brighter and melting into one another. "And if you have the right blood in you." The rock fell and rolled alight to the center of the all an blew up, flashing through the room. "You may be able to unlock unique things about yourself that nobody could have told you about but myself. Welcome to the Yakuza. Serve me well and I will reward you likewise. Do not ask questions, do as I say and train to your utmost and you will understand why I do this to you. Refer to me as Akimichi-dono or just Boss or Sir."

"Yes Boss." the four echoed in unison.

"Very good," Chouji spoke, turning around. "Now the game begins." He mumbled quiet enough for them not to hear.

{HR}


	4. The Separate Party Appears

The New World

A Crossover

Hey All! Tankou001 here with an all new chapter of The New World!

{HR}

Chapter Four: The Separate Party Appears

The light of Bend was a pleasant sort of light. It was cool but crisp and a calm breeze spat out of the valleys that allowed this alternate version of Oregon to enjoy quality rainstorms even past the mountain ranges. They had all come together and decided that the new capital of civilization would be Semiaghn. The spelling was something mismatched. There was no origin. Originally it was an argument. Yuko wanted this, Blackstar wanted that. Chouji felt another way. Kaede stayed quiet with Osaka for most of the time as the group debated and squabbled. In the end there was a silence and Osaka blurted out the name. Everyone just looked at her for a time but, after some time they all agreed it wasn't a bad name: Se-main it was pronounced, though spelled differently.

Ed, however, didn't see the beautiful Oregon day. She was underground, working in the lower basement level on her machines. She seldom left it. She had to set up a functional electrical system before winter came along. Chouji had returned with Sekai Mae no Obake: bears to do the work of men, bears who didn't have to hibernate, though they would be sluggish for some time during the winter. With that three hundred people for the new city that was to be. Francois Edward Wong How Pepilou Tivruski III would not be outdone by a person from a world that didn't even have guns. She had already set up the wireless power system and small matter converter. It couldn't do everything she needed it to but it was at least functional. What she needed now was raw materials. She had had an idea. Portland in her Earth... well she didn't know much of it. History wasn't her major, after all. She worked with the human body. But the city was a major city and Portland was larger than Salem in this world. She would mount a mission and Vincent, the master gunman, would be her partner.

But approaching Vincent Valentine would possibly be more difficult than Ed would have liked. Not that she had ever crushed on anybody in her life but she felt strange around the caped gunman. She was twenty-two. He was 444. The difference was very real in their ages. The fact that Ed couldn't shake the initial reasons for her being here in Semiaghn didn't help. All of them had to foster a new generation... and generations beyond that and those and so forth. If Ed wasn't remembering poorly, she would be spending eternity looking over this new civilization. There was magic and there were jutsu (magic) and science that defied physics. One person was normal. One person looked normal, though Ed was sure she wasn't. What one of the Legacy Of Eight flaunted another refused to show anything of entirely.

How could one live eternally. Ed understood that Vincent was 444 and according to Vash the blond was several hundred years old. Who knew how old Yuko was. First Immigrant Miyuki was twenty years beyond her physical age and didn't show signs of aging anytime soon. But eternity, really? Forever was such a long time. Hundreds of years maybe. Thousands of years possibly but forever easily included radical numbers like millions, billions and trillions! Easily! How could it be that any human being like Ed, Chouji, Osaka and Kaede be able to truly live forever as the United Coalition Of Existences willed them to. Wouldn't they want to eventually retire? Couldn't they?

Nothing could stop nagging at Ed's head, the mind that nagged twice as fast as it should and four times faster than anybody else's could. To Ed everything was quad speed. It wasn't her fault either, though it had been something to get used to. "Bebop Tech" included brain coding techniques to further unlock proper advanced evolution in human beings. Ed's chief coding mishap had been an advanced subjective time rate to allow her to experience two seconds for every one second felt outside. It had bee screwed up and now it was a four to one ratio. Didn't age you faster, just let your brain organize what time you had better and allow your body to follow.

Slinking around the basement (still not finished... ) Ed found Vincent lying on an unconnected pipe. He was usually in the lab; chillin, smoking, contemplating. Vincent never did much but he never seemed to be very far from thinking of something relevant. Largely, now that bears were building houses, Vincent didn't even need to do anything. Ed could tell what Vincent wanted to do though. She'd been a bounty hunter once and so had Vincent. He missed the importance of it all, the pay in experience, not in money. "Willin to go on an adventure?" Vincent turned his head. "We need to get me supplies, as much as we can. Gonna go to Portland and see what we can scrounge. I'll need a partner who knows combat unlike myself."

"Vash seems a good partner then." Vincent said somberly.

"I'd rather have someone who wasn't slaving over doughnuts, love and peace all the time. You seem you have a better wit about you. Care to indulge my wandering instincts?" A smile stretched across Ed's face, her fiery hair bouncing somewhat as she spoke to the former Avalanche member. It had been years since she had tapped into that old youthful energy she used to have, what kept her alive and alert on the Bebop, what got her to say her words twice and be all wacky around everyone se met, wild and redheaded and without a care in the world. When she signed into the Complex that all changed and the wacky redhead learned fast that all she needed to do was her work. Now it was different. Ed knew that, in time, she may yet recover what the government secretly hidden inside the old remnants of Bebop Earth made her forget. Her smile was the first to come back in. Her mind ran at quad speed but when she sucked billowing white clouds from her pipe and felt the slowing effects of the herb she felt a closer connection with what she had been forced to leave behind. She missed the wild redhead in her. Times of being a prosthetics technician were over. Times of the future were now.

Vincent didn't seem so convinced. Doubtless he had seen this sort of act. He was an old one, after all. "Busy..." he spoke, leaning his head back to look away from Ed.

"With what?" Ed asked, inverting her own head to look at Vincent upside down

"Weapon maintenance..." Vincent said simply, now trying just to avoid eye contact.

"You can work on that whilst traveling, right?" Ed snapped back at him. "Looks fine to me though. How maintained can you get a gun before it stops being maintained?"

Vincent sat bolt upright. "You're rather persistent, aren't you?"

"When I have to be."

"Any chance you'll go away now if I just tell you no once more?"

"Hardly."

"Whatever, I'll go with you."

"I thought as much..."

The trip started out easily. The valleys were open and the sun was high in the sky. It was mostly walking, of course, but Ed knew what to do once they got into Portland. There were bound to be vehicles. Ed could hack into one and they would be riding in style before the end of the day. That's how it worked, right?

But by mid-day they hadn't even gotten into the valley proper. Ed's feet were already hurting and the world was just a lot bigger than Ed guessed she had ever given it credit fr. Where were her tough soles barefoot everywhere like back in the Bebop? Then again... those were her old feet. After getting her job in The Complex pretty much everything was replaced at least once. Her bebop feet weren't hers anymore. They were in some vat of protomatter, also protomatter in waiting to be purified and changed into what they needed to be changed into. She could feel the blisters forming on hr tender heels in the hiking boots she wore. Just ahead of her Vincent was just fine, walking along all the rocks and slick ground, moss ad nettle, thorn and ledge as though they weren't there He truly was a experienced adventurer, Ed knew. "Don't suppose there's a secret t walking so smoothly for so long?" Ed asked , forcing a grin despite the fact that she was pretty sure a blister had just burst inside her shoe.

"Practice and perseverance." Vincent said simply as he stepped over a bed of briars, just tromping on through like some hardened animal. "You need to take a break?"

"I need a bebop..." Vincent cocked his head to the side. Ed sighed. "Bebop was the ship I was on back in my world. Big ol' ship that could go through outer space. If we had a bebop with us we could just fly to Portland in a few minutes."

"Simplicity only breeds weakness..." came Vincent's words as he continued walking, never looking back to check if Ed was alright. "Rub some dirt on it. Walk it off."

Ed was finding herself less and less thankful for bringing Vincent along in the first place. At least Vash The Stampede would have made a more lively travel partner, if still sorely lacking in the flight department. Still, Ed couldn't shake that feeling off about Vincent. It was something about him, something otherworldly, all puns aside. It was like even where he had been from he didn't precisely belong, though he had at one point... possibly. "What's your world like?" Ed found herself asking somewhere between the big ledge at the "far" end of the valley and the rivulet that they cross at the bottom about three miles into the valley proper. How long had they been walking? Three hours into the valley? Couldn't be too far could it?

"Big, with a lot of dead land that is regrowing..."

"Moon explode there too?" Ed asked, trying to make a joke.

"No, the essence of The Planet was sucked out of it and used for fuel to the upper echelons of the corporate masses. Four hundred years later, when I was brought here, it's starting to put itself back together. Though there have always been green areas... It's mostly just like here but not."

Well that hadn't helped. "How long do you think it'll take for us to reach Portland?" She asked again, maybe an hour later through all the silence in the world sans nature sounds.

Vincent stopped, finally. Ed almost just sat where she was. The sun was coming down, had been for a hour or two probably. It was hard to tel for a girl who had literally been stuck in an underground base for the past ten years. She'd lost all touch with anything natural since. Her legs hurt so much and the small pack Ed had filled up before leaving was already half empty of the food she had prepared. So much for her rations. She hadn't thought it would take so long to get as far as they were. "According to the map I had seen... week and a half, week if we make good time..."

"That'll take forever!" Ed blurted.

A moan filled their ears. Vincent turned on his heel, drew and shot. One zombie fell down the face of the valley. Twenty more willfully tumbled down the face, landing blow. Some landed head first. The rest stood again and started shambling toward Ed and Vincent, hellish moaning coming out. Ed could hear more moaning as well, from other parts of the valley.

In a valley sounds get eaten up a lot. The sound of two people having a decent conversation is hardly ever noticed over the sound of the natural noises of nature. When an individual yells, however, it creates a bigger pocket of sound for enemies to hear. Normally this wouldn't bear too much ill fortune but when that pocket catches the attention of an individual, say a zombie, on top of the valley a single moan can be heard miles in all directions. Ed hadn't taken that into account when she had blurted out her words and doubtless Vincent hadn't cared whether his gunshot would attract more attention. Ed looked to her right and Vincent, who had been standing there just an instant and a half ago, was nowhere to be found.

He was already leaping toward the action, three zombie heads flying in seconds. Ed turned round to check her six and a couple dozen more zombies careened off the opposite edge of the valley. They were everywhere...

And combat was something that Ed just didn't. In any way, any scenario. She scrambled after Vincent, eager to get him as close to between her and them as possible. But Vincent moved surprisingly fast... and vertically. He almost flew from ledge to ledge. Ed could outrun a horse and out-pace a wolf but she could not do what Vincent was doing, fly.

Seeing that Vincent was obviously too busy picking heads off the walking dead Ed thought best to exercise her best trait. She ran, The footing was not stable and the plant life leaped out to grab her as se ran but running at thirty miles an hour helped make such things less noticeable. Vincent became a speck in not too long and then the zombie moans faded followed by the muted blasts of Vincent's tri-barreled Cerberus gradually hushing back into nature sounds. How far was she from the action, she wondered. Eventually she found reason to stop. Eventually she tripped and landed face first into a muddy rivulet. She muffled the yell of pain. She didn't want to make too much noise. She slowly rose her head, cautiously at first, more hearing than seeing. Then se raised her head further, vision coming into spectrum. The night was falling slowly. Ed could see the sun fading at the far end of the valley. She turned... Then she screamed.

A dead man lay next to her, head broken open and body half eaten by the walking dead. Flies didn't cover his body. He was clearly infected. Animals didn't eat rotten meat... Slowly she felt herself rise, a slow stand to make sure that she was alive. There was so much quiet again, back to the sounds of nature sans animal noises. Animals stayed away from the infected, even dead bodies. She wanted to be back in the Complex. Sure she was horribly indebted to them but what employee wasn't? Ed had developed her plan for her Half-Price Card and it would have paid off given twenty more years. It wouldn't have been so bad to spend twenty more years in bondage to spend a super powered life back in her world. Why did she have to spend eternity with the walking dead?

The scream that had been I her voice settled. She didn't feel the need anymore. In Bebop she hadn't seen anything graphic. A child back then wasn't to see such things and it wasn't like Spike and Faye didn't do all the heaviest of work. But working in The Complex Ed had see much worse than dead bodies half eaten. She'd taken apart the worst and the best and put them all back together better than new. She stood peculiarly and something in her brain twitched. _Something unlocked..._ her thoughts muttered to her.

Vincent was there. When she turned he stood behind her, as though he had never left her, as though she had never left him. "Are you alright?" He asked. Ed nodded. "Any bites?" Ed shook her head. Vincent looked her up and down, drew in through the nose, exhaled through the mouth. Again and again and again... Ed felt, for a time, like his eyes were specimen needles and she was being pinned down for display. Eventually, however, he turned away. "If you could move so fast in the beginning we should have started this trip on a jog...

Ed didn't know what to say. "But you can fly..." She whimpered.

"And yet I still walk..." Vincent said as though it was something amazing to behold. "Let's get moving." he said, back to his usual somber tone, stepping ever forward.

"Where are we now?" Ed asked, not bothering to check her map.

Vincent instead procured one of his own, seemingly from nothing. "According to the a Yuko gave me when we got here... We should be just past the Three Sisters... But it doesn't seem like they exist in this world..."

"Well that doesn't help..." Ed said simply. "Do you recall that the Earth I was born in is a blasted wasteland with big chunks of the moon constantly falling on it?"

"About half way through the valley. We've made surprisingly good time. According to the map we should be able to make it into the Eugene area within the day. We're walking through the night."

"What about sleep?" Ed asked innocently.

"They don't, that's what." Vincent said quietly, pointing the barrel of his gun back at where they had been. "Only reason we didn't see them the first few hours was because they didn't see us. Now they're on us and they'll just keep walking in the same direction until they find something. We're picking up the pace." He handed Ed a handgun; something simple that even Ed could figure out. Pull the hammer, pull the trigger, don't point the open end at anyone you don't want to kill. "Don't use it unless their hands are on you. Just keep moving if they get too close."

Ed was going to ask a question but Vincent leaped into the air and became his cape, a whirling of crimson that flew off into the setting sun. Ed had little choice but to start moving again. Thirty miles an hour was little intense for prolonged travel but twenty she could do, more than likely, for some time. She was always in shape when she could be and ate well. Her organs, all of them, were new and biologically advanced, only just starting o be put to pollutants. She could afford to jog for a few hours.

And that few hours was hell. By the time she caught up with him, Francois Edward Wong How Pepilou Tivruski III was exhausted. They were still in the valley, though it was very clear that there wasn't long to go. On her map it would have been McKenzie River that she saw in front, which must run parallel to the valley up top through some natural phenomena. There would be a highway soon, more than likely, that ran across the top too. The sun had crested the dawn. The new day was starting. Edward didn't want to walk anymore... "I feel..." Ed began, panting for air, "Like an empty gas tank..."

"Feel like a truck with an empty cab and two full jugs of gas?" Vincent's voice asked. Ed looked at him, his hand pointed somewhere west. Ed tried to figure it out. Then she saw it. It was a jeep with a small bed, two 5 gallon jugs in the back. That would work. It was some walk away but they were far out of the way. As they approached they noted a zombie within, still locked to its seat after dying at the wheel. The dead driver had run out of gas without hitting anything, turned and was left in his seat, unable to process that the seat belt was holding him back from freedom and precious flesh treats.

Needing no food he naturally lasted several years perhaps, as he was still quite rotted when they found him, though still whole enough to moan and reach for them. Ed was the one who shot, blowing through the eye without penetration on the other side. The zombie slumped against the door and Ed gave a double tap to the back of its head. Vincent let the smallest of smiles slip when she wasn't looking.

They pulled the deceased zombie from the cab and filled the tank with gas. Ed had packed rubber gloves for the need of moving zombie bodies, of course. In the back a rifle lay, having been under the gas. Ed kept this, giving Vincent's handgun back. Some of the gas they poured on the zombie and burned. Ed's eyes were tired. She was having a hard time keeping them open. Glad that she brought cleaning supplies, Ed washed down the interior of the jeep. The seats were leather and hadn't degraded badly at all. This had only happened a couple years ago and the leather was good enough to hold through the relatively dried up zombie body. There was a smell they just couldn't wash out but there were spare air fresheners in the glove compartment along with a flashlight and screwdriver as well as some useless stuff that would be thrust idly in a glove compartment.

As soon as they got on the go Ed fell asleep. Vincent sort of envied her, able to appreciate sleep like she did. He didn't sleep anymore, just waited. He was hundreds of years old and with so long of a life Vincent Valentine had long grown out of humanity, his unique structure from Jenova Cells making him something altogether different from humanity, though able to interbreed his line would never run true. There was no Jenova on this world and he wouldn't will it on anyone. Within the hour the reached a highway, broken up and wide, littered with cars and crashes. But Vincent could drive it with the beast of a vehicle easily. He flipped on the four wheel drive and went off road when he had to. However, eventually that became an issues. Anywhere that road was not solidly over there began to be trees, forty feet tall with thick stalks two and a half arms thick. Some were smaller but definitely of the same variety. Vincent stopped the car to investigate. No reason to wake Ed over it. Didn't seem like anything more than obnoxious terrain really, which Vincent just couldn't find a reason to be angry at. He still wanted a bird's eye view. They'd been driving at fifty for a good hour but civilization was scarce in the bad sort of way. No houses, nothing. Even for the country it was weird. The forest was digging in deep, with small trees and large tree. Anywhere from three feet to twenty feet to forty feet tall were deep green plants, a forest of marijuana mixed with other species of flora.

Yuko's powers had proved that plants in this world were more than just plants. They felt and understood in a sapient way like humans, in their own plant way though of course. At least that worked in some instances. This forest was thriving, rich skunky buds on the lower branches and plumes of deep green leaves over the plant. Never trimmed, these must have expanded from recreational growers and, with windows smashed in and walls busted down, surrounded by zombies that didn't notice plant life, the cannabis forest propagated, super well bred and in contact with other superior strains. They bred into taller, denser more healthy plants. With the good winds filtering in through the valley assured strong stalks and healthy plants. The free weather patterns watered them well and the climate was just right at this part of the world. All plants flourished, especially cannabis.

As he landed, however, Vincent was sure there were no zombies around. Even if he hadn't cared in the valley until the walking dead showed their faces he cared now. They had been much to close for comfort and now a horde of several hundred zombies were shambling in their direction. Even with a jeep, with only one gas jug remaining full, there had to be rest for humanity. Zombies didn't need it though... Vincent thought for a moment. Would he wake up the tired, attractive redhead who needed sleep and had been maintaining a consistent jog the entire night or wait until she was well rested?

"I'm tired! Can't we go back to the Jeep and wait till morning?" Ed complained.

"Morning's already come..." Vincent said as he bend down all of the trees, using a new handgun with a suppressor to shoot the stalks to weaken them.

"I meant tomorrow morning..." Ed whined. Her eyes were darkening from lack of sleep. Reasonably speaking, this was the first time her body had ever not gone a night without proper sleep. Her mind couldn't even fathom the feeling of exhaustion anymore. "We've walked..." Ed yawned, "So far so much faster. There's no way they could catch up before we're on the move again..."

"Then I suppose you'd like to make tomorrow all jogging, and the next day?" Vincent asked somberly.

Ed gasped. "Of course not!"

"Well they would." Vincent countered. "Every day we walk that we sleep a full night is two of our days and more they walk. I'm doing you a favor for when we will sleep. You'll wake up with more energy than you've ever had. Be glad we aren't jogging..."

Jogging to Ed, Vincent now knew, was around 20 miles an hour, his relaxed fly. 24/7 of 4 miles an hour didn't exactly match up to a full day of 20 but Vincent never liked taking chances where a single scratch ended a life without recovery. Anybody who got bit would experience a death no less real than Aerith's. Vincent remember, briefly, his old party-mate. He didn't get to know her for long but the fate she got was not what she deserved, a death she never should have had to experience. Vincent didn't want that fate to become of Ed, whoever she had been in her old world to whomever.

Ed stayed quiet after that, a muffled yawn every now and then. They had left the Jeep behind, preferring (Vincent, that is) to walk on foot. Half through the day Vincent stopped Ed. There was complete silence, no sounds of nature in the hilly forest of Cannabis with bigger plants mixed in. Vincent knew something was wrong. There was something nearby, he could tell. He waited. There was a sound, very quiet. Ed opened her mouth but Vincent's gauntlet slapped over it. He placed his current pistol on the ground, drawing Cerberus slowly.

It all began. Two screams from the forest, one of them Ed's. The other voice, Vincent couldn't say. A spear came his way. He moved his head just enough. He fired but his hand wrenched sideward, veering the shot almost toward Ed. He turned and repelled the spear wielding assailant with a foot, catching a glimpse of the person who had his off-hand. A young woman, blond of hair with pigtails, long and streaming. He twisted out of her arm-lock and turned just fast enough to fire the spearhead out of the way before it took his head off. The man who used the spear had spiky brown hair and a blue suit, stylized almost like a military outfit though no ranks or badges. A banner swung from the spear's shaft. It floated through the air almost as if wind really held it.

The man wielding the spear twisted forward as the forceful tri-shot repelled the spear's edge, front-flipping for a downward slice. The blond came in from the opposite side. Vincent could see her hands. She wanted one of his spare pistols. By the trajectory, she would get it. There was nothing he could do. He back-flipped. The spear missed him by a hair and the blond got his gun out of the holster but he had lined it up. One shot and the silenced pistol flew through the air, useless with three high caliber bullets having gone through it.

The fight stopped. Vincent stood in front of the two combatants, his Cerberus raised to his shoulder, ready to lower for a shot. He man with Shinpaku's Flag stood in front of the blond. The long whispered in his ear. Vincent could see it in her eyes. This girl needed a gun of some sort to work at maximum efficiency, just like Vincent himself. Without that silenced pistol Cerberus was the only one she would have been able to see. Vincent knew that the blond would work to get it.

Vincent was the first one to step forward. They hadn't finished whispering when he moved and the flag-bearer had chosen to not wait for the rest. The blond shook her head only most briefly and raced after. Vincent prepared to accept the spear wielder's attack but as Vincent went in to blow is head off the man leaped and flipped over him. He pulled the trigger, missed and was brought face to face with the blond. She went for a grab, Vincent lowered his gun and raised his right foot, catching the spear before it could come up and rip him wide open. Thankful his boots were made of good metal. Her free hand came right up from under to strike him but he blocked with his gauntlet. The force of hand against hand was harder than Vincent would have imagined for someone of such size, even taking into account that she may have as much martial arts training as Tifa had.

Instead of staying in the awkward stalemate, however, Vincent used the force of the blond's blow to get out. He pushed off the hand and spear tip, spinning through the air long enough for the spearman to swing at him. He turned to cape and flew for a few feet, solidifying behind the spearman. The man in blue spun round and the blond came up on the opposite flank quicker than Vincent had thought she could. He kicked back, foot landing square on the blond's face to halt her movement. The spear nearby hacked his face off but he caught it in his hand, the spearhead squealing as its metal slid noisily against the metal of Vincent's gauntlet. He raised his gun to the spearman's face, began pulling the trigger.

"NO!" that separate scream's voice came from the forest. A woman of long hair more red than brown came out. She had red eyes and something on her face, or was it part of her face? Vincent couldn't tell. Her legs were those of a bird, at least from the mid-calf down. More or less, however, she looked completely human, if you could ignore the few inhuman differences. A girl walked out from behind her, looking completely miserable.

Ed finally made herself seen. Vincent didn't know why she couldn't have just used the rifle or handgun she already had, or at least throw one out there. It would have evened the odds out a lot quicker for him in the long and short of it. "Who are you?"

The spear wielder cocked his head. The miserable woman had been repeating the same thing time and again since Vincent had first seen her, whatever it was she didn't know. Vincent's foot was still planted square on the blond's face. He didn't trust to let go of the pressure on her forehead. She didn't seem to be letting go of the pressure on the bottom of his metal boot. "Triela, Please stop it." The pressure on his foot eased, if only just. Vincent very slowly lifted his foot off her forehead. She didn't move until he fully set his foot to the ground. Only then did the woman marginally relax anymore. She straightened herself up and took a step between the miserable mumbler. "I'm sorry," the woman with the strange face said. Now that Vincent looked at her, she had a beak in place of a nose. It didn't take off much from her face, admittedly, though it wasn't exactly Vincent's type. "We couldn't be sure if you were safe."

Vincent paused. He wasn't sure of any of this. He could tell the same thoughts were crossing the spearman's mind. He was quite certain this "Triela" didn't care what happened as long as she protected her charge, the miserable girl in what seemed a legitimate military outfit, though horribly outdated even for Vincent's world. She was so very sad. The blond was tense, even still, her back to the miserable girl but Vincent could tell why. She was interposing herself between the military girl and Vincent. "Who are you?" Vincent repeated.

The beaked girl jumped shyly in place briefly. "Oh, I'm sorry." She bowed. "My name is Medli. This is Matsui," She motioned to the blue suited spear wielder. "Triela is the other person you fought." She spoke motioning to Triela. "And behind her is Lilly. She has said her name but understand some people's languages don't mix in this world. We are the standing members of the Shinpaku Federation. We hope to unite people to the banner in time."

"Not really going to get many friends attacking them straight off, now are you?" Ed said under her breath.

Apparently Medli's ears, however, were especially sharp (And they even came to a point at the tips), as she didn't have a hard time hearing this. Triela seemed to tense as well at the words that Vincent was sure only he would be hearing. "We didn't mean to truly hurt you. It's a posture. Matsui said it would be best to get you pinned down first, then consider diplomacy afterward."

Triela's hand slapped against her forehead and she shook her head. This didn't make Vincent feel any better and Triela seemed to understand well enough that very fact. Matsui didn't seem to understand. Apparently Medli was the mouthpiece of the party and Triela shared a language with her. Matsui didn't seem to know too much in languages. He was the party damage magnet. Chances were it was his job to get in between anybody who was attacked then seek and destroy. Triela Vincent couldn't say but it was clear she used a gun and she had martial arts experience. She also had good team tactics, where Matsui looked single combat based. Triela worked around Matsui's mistakes in combat, telling Vincent she was used to working in a small team where he was used to working alone. The girl in back, Lilly. Vincent had no way of knowing. She hadn't made any movements of hostility the entire time. She just parroted the words, over and over and over again, one of which was Lilly. It just seemed phrases of introduction.

Vincent stared at the party. At some point he locked gazes with Matsui. The two were stuck then, back and forth and back again. For however long it went on Vincent couldn't say but just as he spoke Matsui spoke as well, just as fast and just as forcefully. "Strip." Vincent heard himself say. They could have bites, that was the bottom line.

Medli jumped at the unison speech, looking back to Matsui and then to Vincent and back to her partner who had spoken. A second forehead slap came from Triela. Lilly kept repeating her name. "Umm.. W-ell..." Medli seemed at a loss for words. "It seems Matsui... w-w-wants you to s-strip." Then she turned, almost robotic, away from Ed and Vincent and back to the Shinpaku gang, speaking in a different language for a moment. Matsui and Vincent still hadn't torn their eyes from each other's. Lilly kept repeating, miserable all the while. Ed started stripping. Triela seemed annoyed but begrudgingly stripped.

And with Midna's reluctant help, seeming to understand at least enough of this, the groups were nude in minutes and clothed in seconds after everyone did a quick turn and peek. Nobody had bites and now that each and every one of them had seen the other nude it eased some tension, surprising as it was to say. Hey walked the same direction for a time, speaking to each other. Vincent would have had words with Matsui if either of them spoke anything remotely similar to the other's language. From what Medli told him Matsui only spoke a few words of this continent's "English." He was Japanese. _Just like First Immigrant Miyuki_ Vincent had thought idly. Instead the brooding spearman walked in the straight middle of the party, banner rolled and pear slung on his back. He was very militant to never let the banner touch the ground. Vincent couldn't get Lilly Stechin's Story. Triela had appeared with her, that much they knew, but harp Lilly would only ever say her name, birth date, rank, division and the name of her direct subordinate, Mercury. She hadn't stopped parroting it since Vincent had first seen her and, according to Medli, when she wasn't eating, sleeping or crying with some intensity, that was all she had said as long as they'd known her. Vincent made hesitant conversation with Medli, mostly keeping his eyes trained on Matsui, the dangerous one. More than half the time Matsui's cold stare met back, the other half on Medli or ahead, depending on when Ed turned the party in accordance to getting to Eugene, Oregon. The walk for Vincent would be silent and alert.

In the mean time Edward was making wonderful conversation. When at first Triela had seemed a hopeless tomboy fighter who longed for a trigger to pull now she seemed just what she was, a woman just like d. Ed and her got along particularly well because, largely, nothing about them was the same as when they were born. No part of ed hadn't been replaced or modified under the knife. Save for the brain and skull Triela was no different. Where she had been born she couldn't know but it had been on Earth, granted not this one but a similar one, not much unlike Ed's Earth before the moon explosion. Italy's Social Welfare Agency picked her up just outside Amsterdam. Publicly The Social Welfare Agency took in children to give them a second chance at life. What they really did was made children who had no chance to live into cyborgs, train them and put them through conditioning that made them blindly loyal to a single handler.

They had all started as children, aged 10 through 14, Triela the oldest in the division. Of six five lived to success. Afterward the agency's models got popularity in the military and government. They endorsed better models, newer looks, a method to allow the girls to "age" despite their bodies of carbon framing, fiber optic sensory organs and synthesized muscle tissue, otherwise ageless anatomy. Triela and the four remaining originals went through the change first and, as more and more cyborgs were made and the section grew, Triela and her companions became able to shunt off the conditioning, their minds having grown far enough to take charge. Only Triela had found those specifics out, however. The rest had to find out themselves as Triela joined a terrorist organization for the equality of her people, the units of Social Welfare Agency Section 2. She never finished that but informed Ed that it would still be done, definitely. When she had arrived Lilly had been alone, right beside her.

Her handler in her world had been Hilshire. Triela still had always been blindly loyal to him, even after running from the agency. She had left at his behest. However, when a fratello was broken normally the girl's mind and memories self destructed, leaving her hollow of those memories, rusty of the knowledge that she held for command. Triela's mind had held the conditioning and, instead of losing her memories of the old world, maintained the thoughts of independence. Her old conditioning, however, assigned her to serve the military and Lilly had been wearing what could be defined as a uniform. Triela hadn't known about the imprinting until she was putting down zombies for the girl who wouldn't even run, so lost in her losses. While still in complete control the polyglot gunslinger girl had a handler nonetheless. Lilly Stechin was her handler and Triela was determined to protect her in any way she could, all physical. All lethal. In Triela's old world any threat to the handler demanded immediate and lethal consequences, no matter how small. Triela still held that mindset. Though technically all of what she said was classified information that Ed would normally be shot for even knowing Triela informed her that she had somehow bypassed classification and reasoned that, in this different world, classified didn't exist, and indeed it didn't any longer.

Ed told her about The Complex, about everything else Ed told Triela about how she was modified and how the technology back in her world was so much more advanced than even Triela's body was. How Triela could have been made with true flesh and blood and bone all of which was genuine and yet still unbreakable. Ed demonstrated by drawing a knife and stabbing into her palm, moving it to show the blood run red for a few seconds before the shallow cut sealed up and the blood cleared from the site a minute later. Ed's healing factor was nothing, she informed Triela. That some people with bodies made like Ed's healed gaping mortal wounds in seconds and cuts just didn't ever stay long enough to be noticed. Ed told Triela of how, back at Semiaghn, there was Bebop tech, so they called it, just like that, though not yet quite up and running. Triela didn't quite believe it but admitted it was more likely than Medli even existing so she had no way of telling otherwise.

Both parties were going to Eugene but afterward Ed knew they would have to part ways. The cannabis forest was still just as thick by the time the sun fell and they set up camp. Ed hit the dirt hard and didn't open her eyes till morning after that.

Matsui stepped into his tent with Medli. Triela stood guard with Vincent, who didn't seem to need sleep. Medli brushed out her hair, long enough to reach the ground while she stood if she didn't put it up in a pony tail. He had grown smitten with her blessing of such fiery appearance. Nanjo Kisara had been one thing but everything about Medli spoke flame and ember. Her eyes were red as fiery coals and her hair like strung flames. He had appeared with her. He knew exactly what had happened to him. He had registered into Kenichi's Dojo for training to better serve the Shinpaku Federation and he had lost. After some weeks of grueling backbreaking training under Tosaka Shigure he was sure he died. Next thing he knew he was in this new world, not much different from his own save zombies everywhere and some geographical differences.

And before him was a woman, hiding and scared, red as fire in her body's colors yet so shy and helpless. She was so afraid of everything. Matsui had gone to her in the rain that night, almost half a year ago, trying to help her out, for he was fine, if a bit shocked. This woman he had appeared next to, she was distraught in more ways than one. _And why shouldn't she have been?_ The martial artist thought to himself as Medli gave him a smile.

"Are you okay?" Matsui had asked her

"I... Don't know..." she had told him, curled up in a ball of fright in the pouring rain surrounded by the corpses of zombies Matsui with banner still in hand, crude spearhead atop it.

"What's your name?" He had asked her, making sure to look around to see if the zombies had all been dealt with, trying to shield her scantily clothed body from the cold that rained down on them.

"I don't... Know..." She had answered, not unlike the last time, unsure. Matsui had seen her eyes tearing up, able to tell the difference between tears and the rain that was falling all over them. "Where do you come from?" He had asked then.

"I don't know." She said a third time, looking up to him in desperation the likes of which she hadn't the ability to fathom but still held nonetheless. "Where are your friends?"

"I don't know."

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't know." she said yet again, tears flowing from her eyes and mixing with the clean rainwater at her chin, past the top half of a beak that was her nose. "What's going on here?" He had asked more to the universe than Medli.

Midna had looked up at him then. She had been starting to cry but it was then that she stopped for a moment. She stared up at him, her mind calculating what it could, he could tell. Hen, slowly, it came on like a child realizing what death was for the first time, only to find out that it was his parents who died. She made a face that was a grin, but full of so much pain. He tears again started flowing and a growl like a little girl trying to find a word for the wost sound in the world but still not trying to cry came from between her lips. "I... Dont... Know..."

And she bawled for the rest of the night, until she lay asleep eyes puffed shut and cheeks swollen. Her beak nose was so stuffed from crying that she made little snores fitfully. Matsui knew nothing of what had happened to him but one way or another this girl was in a worse place than he was. He had his memories. Eventually she had remembered her name, the grandest understanding of language skills and a little of what could only be explained as magic. Aside from that Medli remembered nothing of her old world. Medli's eyes were a bit puffy tonight, as Vincent had asked her about her world earlier. The thought that she didn't know still put Medli to fits of sobbing. She got over them fast enough and Matsui knew better than to make conversation about it. Nobody could sympathize with her. Normally when you lost your memories you never missed them. You didn't know they were gone by that point. Medli knew they were gone. She knew how important they had been to her, or at least could guess at it. She could feel the space where hundreds of loved ones and thousands of beautiful memorable experiences had just fallen out of her head, no matter how significant they may have been and she was constantly reminded of it in the sense that it was all she knew. That emptiness almost swallowed her every time she slept, Matsui felt.

"I don't like them." Matsui said plainly as he began stripping off his clothing. Medli and he had seen each other's bodies, hugged close for warmth at night in the mountains, been as one being. Six months of survival in the zombie apocalypse had brought them close together in more ways than one. Matsui and Medli couldn't be separated, no matter what worlds they had come from. "That man made you cry..."

"There was no way to know what he said would hurt me, Matsui." Medli said quietly, calmly. That was how she always was when she could afford to be. She remained composed when in public. Matsui guessed it had to do with her old life, whatever she was before the crossing from her world to this one. "And don't you remember? They come from other worlds as well. We're not the only ones in this world from another. They were sent to begin civilization anew. That's our chance for home again, Matsui. We could start a simple life together, just you and me."

"And a whole city of other people." Matsui said begrudgingly

"And among hundreds we'll be just another couple of people, like things are supposed to be. They won't care cause we'll just do what everyone else does. We'll be the neighbors, or whatever you call them." Medli's understanding of certain concepts didn't translate sometimes She never understood what it was to have neighbors, though Matsui guessed bird people wouldn't just have houses. Medli didn't show it often but her arms turned to wings when she willed them to and she could fly, even carry people some ways. Even if she was a different race of being altogether he still loved her, and apparently their respective kinds were mutually compatible, which helped quite the bit.

But he couldn't accept it. "I want to be alone with you until we can found the Federation officially. We don't need this Seh-main place. We'll start the Shinpaku Federation and everything will work."

"Triela's thinking of going to Semiaghn and taking Lilly with her." Medli told him.

"It's probably safer there anyway for them."

"What about me?" Medli asked simply. Matsui gave her a hurt look. Medli realized quickly what wrong she had said. "Not to say you can't protect me, Matsui! I'm just saying it would be nice not to have to move every day to keep from getting eaten alive by the walking dead is all. I'm sure this Semiaghn place is great. According to Edward they have electricity," That word had taken her so long to understand, "and plenty of food and space and two hundred bears, all as intelligent as humans who know how to work metal and build houses."

And all of this gave Matsui more reason to distrust Vincent and Ed. A couple hundred quasi-intelligent bears just come out of animal mindset with hammers and forges and the knowledge to build a house. _If a bear has the intelligence to build a house by himself he certainly has the wit to throw the logs made to build said house at me fast enough and forcefully enough to kill me_ He wanted to tell her desperately. "The more people around you and I that I don't know the more difficult it'll be to keep you safe. We're in zombie land or something here, Medli... I just don't want to lose you..." He took Medli by the hands, holding hers in his. It was so selfish of him, he knew, but he didn't care. He was allowed this at least, right?

Staring into his eyes Medli came to the conclusion that he was indeed allowed such a privilege. "Alright, Matsui... But let's at least stay with them till Eugene. It's on the way to the coast and it's better to have them than not. " Medli leaned close to Matsui and whispered. "Gave you a run for your money, didn't he?"

Matsui blushed and Medli smiled. Then he tickled her, fiercely. She giggled and squealed and eventually the two found themselves on top of each other, breathing heavily from the struggle of tickle versus get away from tickle. "Matsui?" Medli spoke into the once more quiet night. Matsui grunted acknowledgement. "Where are we going?"

"To the coast." he said. "We'll search up and down the coast for a few weeks. If we can find a boat big enough we'll stock it up and make way for home."

"Where's home?" Medli asked innocently.

Matsui chuckled. "Home will be Japan, which we'll reorganize and found as the Shinpaku Federation."

Medli sighed. "I can't help but feel I've been with another boating fan in the old world for some reason..."

"Think he was good with a weapon as me?" Matsui asked with a smirk

Something tells me..." Medli started, looking to the ceiling of the tent, as if to the stars, "Something tells me he is, or at least was. I think... I think he loved me a lot... maybe he was my lover. I can't recall..."

Matsui realized that Medli was doing it again. She was remembering something but she never remembered enough to remember anything other than that she didn't. Poor girl was reminded at every turn and normally she didn't act like it bothered her at all. But Matsui knew her private times. He knew it hurt her all the time, not just when she showed it. "Don't worry about that now. We have our goals and we have a good future ahead of us without them around. We don't need them. We are starting a new life together."

"I hope so, Matsui. I just hope, whatever it is, we have a life where... maybe where I don't have to remember. Let's have a life where wherever I come come from doesn't need to have definition." Medli pressed herself against the spearman. "We are compatible. I'm sure it works this way. If we have children, over the years they will breed down into humanity and it will become commonplace. Nobody will think my nose is weird in this new world we make."

They fell asleep soon enough. Triela slapped her forehead in the next tent over. How silly these people all were. Not a lick of common sense among them. Triela guessed she was the only one around who came from a world defined as "normal," even if she herself was not. She had learned a lot in the past few months. Four months ago Henrietta had nailed her in the chest with her own shotgun. Consequently Triela didn't have the gun with her now. Still, she was alive where ordinarily Henrietta would have walked away leaving a dead Triela behind for the cleanup crew.

Instead she arrived next to a miserable girl who was actually older than she was. She spoke German, which was Triela's second language. She spoke ten. All she had said since then was, "Lilly Stechin. War Relief State Section 3: Pumpkin Scissors. My first subordinate is Mercury Stechin, former best courier dog the military ever had.." Again, all Triela had ever heard from her lips. As Lilly spoke it yet again her sobbing grew heavier and she sobbed into her pillow, one of the few things she had from her world. The pink, super frilly thing somehow had managed to survive just fine along this entire trip, not what Triela could say about their ratty clothing relics from their old worlds. What she wouldn't give for her Winchester right now, full bayonet, fully stocked ammo with the extra choke for the super wide spread. Combined with the extra magazine she could blow a zombie horde out of the picture in seconds. All of the specialized cyborg units were trained in unarmed combat but their true shine came through with their signature weapons. Triela's was the Winchester 1857 shotgun. She missed it so much.

But this was to be her new handler. She would decide what weapons Triela used... That was she would if she would stop sobbing. It was annoying Triela more than Elsa had back in the old world but she had to try to give encouragement. It was what was needed. "Now there, there's no reason to cry anymore. Think I can get some words out of you tonight?"

The miserable girl just cried more. Triela was finding day by day, ever so slowly, that her new handler annoyed the shit out of her. She couldn't raise her hand to a handler, of course. That was just programed against her, whether she liked it or not. Instead she did something rash. She grabbed the miserable little woman from her place and lifted her off the ground, turning her and placing her on her back. "Now you listen to me. You're acting like a child." Lilly stopped crying. "Now don't think you're the only one who left a world behind. You had family and so did I."

Tears started welling up again as Lilly started to say her name, "No!" Triela snapped at her with a shake. "You keep saying you're part of the military but you can't even shake off the stupor that you're not where you used to be. You think you're the only one who lost... everything?" Triela remembered Hilshire, Jose and Henrietta, who had killed her. They had been wonderful friends too. A teardrop hit Lilly's face from Triela. Her eyes were crying but her face was just trying to stay serious. "I lost everything... too..." The strength left Triela's body and she let herself fall to Lilly's embrace. She cried and, finally, Lilly didn't. The black haired girl of a woman simply lay still, hugging her, realizing finally that she wasn't the only one with problems. "You're my handler now... You give me orders and decide what is done with me." Triela said after crying for some time. "I don't have a gun... but I will get one and I will keep you safe, as is my directive."

The next morning Lilly didn't talk much, but what she did say was innocent, still hurt and afraid of this new place. She understood she was here now, however, that she would have to become something. Triela was a bit more relaxed, even to Vincent. Matsui seemed more solidly settled in his beliefs but he wasn't as aggro about everything. Vincent was largely the same, as were Ed and Medli. Nothing had truly changed about their lives. Everyone was more friendly at least a bit. Matsui even spared a few minutes every hour to speak civilly with Vincent. Ed had to give it to him, Matsui knew when to brighten up. Vincent had been ready and able to blow them both to pieces the day before. Even she'd never have been able to see that kind of fighting coming. Ed wondered idly, as they walked, where he'd gotten his training. Wherever it was Vincent was no doubt going to keep it to himself. _What one member of the Legacy of Eight flaunts the other denies completely._ Ed thought to herself.

Yuko and Chouji showed their true colors often and even Ed herself wasn't adverse to using them publicly. Blackstar's only true power, so it seemed, was to beat the ever loving hell of of someone, which he was ever eager to show off but Vincent abstained from people entirely most of the time. Kaede was loath to call herself anything but a normal woman in the public eye (or even to the other Legacy Of Eight members) and Vash, when asked of his abilities, would go into long dramatic speeches about a being messenger from the cosmos come to spread love and peace for the good of mankind, blah, blah, blah... But you would never get anything useful out of him. On that note Osaka, the one with a completely mundane background, considered simple things like childhood secrets important on the large scale. She didn't have power save for the logical mind of a normal person.

Ed was lost in it all. She was "normal" in that her path wasn't some magic storybook. But it wasn't normal on a stage of the twenty-first century modern world. Ed had interplanetary space travel in the course of a week. It would take these people months just to get a few trained people in a clunky shuttle to get to Mars or Venus at the top of their tech level. Ed, knowing what she did abut mechanical and electronic systems, would have given them about a 20% chance of return success at that.

Eventually they left the forest of hand shaped leaves and came across a decent sized minivan on the crowded highway. It was a good model, almost new. Ed didn't know much of these "clunky" past models but Matsui, Vincent and Triela could manage just fine in the old style vehicles. It had a lot of canned food in the back and a bottle of water or two, which was sad because everyone was thirsty and not as many people had water as should have. Triela handled herself well enough and both Matsui and Vincent wouldn't let themselves be caught complaining about something as simple as thirst (Vincent didn't even need water) Ed and Lilly were quickly complaining about their lack of hydration. If Medli had any problems she didn't make it apparent but Ed could see it even in her strange face.

They found a full sized SUV on the side of the road as well. It had a broken window and a missing hubcap but the wheel was still on tight and the all terrain capabilities were much better than the minivan. It had a rack on the top as well, which made loading up nice. They had kept the water bottles and, as there were rivers nearby, they were able to get water every now and then whenever the coast was clear enough and the water clean. Some streams and rivulets that would have been best for drinking were already tainted, with bodies of some sort clearly upstream making the water both smell and look appealing. Some of it was a sickly rust color and other streams were thick with clouds of green sickly film. Needless to say, those water sources were passed up.

Everyone talked in the car in turns. The girls would stay quiet whilst Matsui and Vincent randomly talked about whatever they did, normally conversations on training styles and fighting preferences, normally clashing in interest but somehow respectful all the same. Then there were times the women would talk. Matsui and Vincent would make faces at each other up in the front seat while Medli, Triela and Ed all talked about _girly things._ Eventually Vincent or Matsui were bound to speak up, quiet individuals or not. Side conversations would spout from such comments and conversations from those.

They stopped at a rest stop, "Somewhere with bathrooms." The girls adamantly begged. Vincent, Matsui and Triela cleared the area with fascinating speed and accuracy and then Triela was the one to happily inform the men that they would be on guard duty. After Medli was the unfortunate suspect to view just what a horrible place the girl's bathroom was after years of zombie occupation the women of the two groups joined to clean it. The bathroom storage shed just next to the permanent structure, they all guessed, hadn't been touched two decades before the zombie war, much less the last twenty year, and thus it was well full of long forgotten supplies that hadn't degraded at all. Fully stocked on cleaning supplies the ladies all went to work. Matsui and Vincent used the bushes.

Vincent sat down on a curb and got out his pipe. He hadn't had much time to get to the few recreational pleasures this world provided him. Leader of a new world order, the most profound and insane thing Vincent could have thought of ever being. There was no way an ancient recluse had what it took to be a world council leader. Nonetheless he had been given something good in being here. The Planet hadn't had these green buds but Vincent found the smoking of it all very relaxing. Sure he didn't need it but that didn't keep him from also eating when in the company of others and when the food storage permitted.

He loaded the hammer of the pipe, pouring a bit of water into he bard so as to fill it. It seems all of the old sinks and fountains still worked as well as one would expect them to after so long not in service. At first Matsui took the fall on the far side rest stop fountain, struggling with his tongue for about five minutes trying to get the taste of old pipes and plumbing sludge from it. After running it for a while they determined that it was just the age of the fountain. The new water from deeper in the pipes was just fine.

The ladies were done with their cleaning by the time Matsui an Vincent sat down to smoke. The men didn't expect to see them for the latter half of the day. It was alright. Vincent symbolically blew his head off while they waited. "What's that?" Vincent didn't know quite how but he could pick out four in every five words Matsui uttered. Being in his presence just a couple days bestowed the Japanese language.

Vincent was intrigued, though only dimly, "Marijuana..." he stated bluntly, drawing long again from the artful magnum pipe.

"That stuff isn't allowed in my world..." Matsui said simply. He knew Yakuza trafficked that.

"Didn't exist ion mine and history lessons say it was fought over here for a while... before shit hit the fan." A plume of smoke into Matsui's face. "The world has ended." Vincent said. "If you follow old rules and do what civilization had told you, you're gonna die." Vincent handed the young man his pipe. "Or at least be less able to enjoy it."

Matsui took a half minute to understand the concept of glass piece smoking. Soon he was coughing and soon after that he was smiling, red eyed and largely uncaring. "I don't get it." Matsui said with a dumb grin on his face.

"Somehow," Vincent started, his eyes significantly redder as well though his face still perpetually bored, "I'm not sure you're supposed to." The smallest shadow of a smile touched his lips. Matsui laughed and slapped his knee. "Think of I this way. You believe in something, right?" Matsui nodded. "So that thing made us, right?" Matsui nodded. "and in our heads, it made these receptors that were only made to receive the chemicals of this one plant." Another cursory nod from the martial artist. "So this one plant is a flower that's covered in... crystals." Vincent's head was still fogging up. "And when you catch them on fire and inhale the smoke, it makes you happy."

"That makes a lot of sense." Matsui said with a smiling nod.

"Lot simpler than some would have it made out to be." Vincent agreed

Meanwhile the girls talked, as they had been for hours. The bathrooms were spotless, men's side included. Couldn't could the girls leave a job half done. The bathroom storage shed got ransacked and now the groups both had ample toiletries for their travels. As they looked at themselves in the dull steel mirrors that lined the bathroom wall the talked about other things than men would speak of; fond memories in their old worlds, what they missed in food, the men they left behind, all four of which had at least one choice individual. Medli didn't know names or anything like that, as she didn't remember anything about her old world, but she maintained that, in he old world, she was very sure she cared for someone and he was truly courageous and forthright if not all that intelligent. Triela talked about her old handler, only man she ever cared about really. He gave her life and purpose and, in the end, what led her to this world was turning her back on him.

Ed talked about Jet and Spike from the bebop, how they and Faye were always getting into troublesome, deadly adventures. Lille spoke of Corporal Oland of the 901st anti-tank troops, the giant man who had a heart as large as his truly massive chest, and the other men on her team... and then Mercury, who she cried for for a bit until Triela got her but of it with a few well placed words.

As the sun began to set in the distance, the sky turning pink and gray, the girls came out. Vincent was lying on a bench and Matsui was training. They had only just stopped smoking minutes before. Both were well beyond the level of sobriety. Ed tapped Vincent on the head a few times and his eyes snapped open. He cracked a small smirk, "Bout time." He muttered, sitting up and wobbling to a stand.

"Oh jeez, you're torched." Ed said with a look of concern in her eyes. "Triela, could you pick this shift up?" Triela, breaking into one of the vending machines, called back a moment later positively, then proceeded to peel the steel wiring off the front of the machine and discard the grate. She looked at the menu, then to the aluminum sheet that was the front of the food dispenser. She pressed her ear to the thing, knocked on it lightly a few times. Hen she stood and punched straight through, pulling out three Coconut Clusters in her hand with a smile. She seemed very excited about it as she walked back, tearing open the first package to her king sized coconut candy bars.

Medli went to admire Matsui in the parking lot, balancing perfectly on his spearhead. He made it look easy but it would have been impossible for anyone else, they all were pretty sure of it. His body gently curved in the air, bent back on itself above the [spear, held at a forty-five degree angle to the ground. It was balance a it's finest. His eyes were closed. Medli spoke his name. Eyes opened, he crashed; face first into the asphalt. He seemed fine, his eyes red as blood as he explained to Medli the mess-up apologetically.

They got into the SUV and rode. The next couple days went by in a flash. They got to Eugene, hijacked another couple, better SUVs. Eugene was small and covered in small forests of cannabis, all having clearly grown out from the settlement. They knocked over a few gas stations, fought through a zombie horde couple hundred strong at one point. The next horde they found they opted to convoy around. Thousands strong, nobody wanted to go through it. The Shinpaku party opted, at least until Portland, to stay around. And so they rode parallel the I5, crashing through fences when need be and using the interstate bridges to gain access to river crossings. The travel was alright. Vincent took apart Matsui's language and, in a few days, the Japanese martial artist was speaking broken English. It seemed people from other worlds learned languages easier in this one.

By the time they drove past Salem, ever at their leisurely pace, the group had long distance radios in both SUVs and had conversations back and forth regularly. Despite their small size and lack of gigantic antenna display these radios seemed a bit closer to Ed's Bebop tech level. Three hundred mile call zone. Shinpaku could be in Olympia (or wherever Olympia was) and The Legacy Of Eight in Semiaghn and they would still probably get enough reception to carry on emergency calls and such, when it was really needed. They also seemed to have no battery port. They might have been nuclear powered or could have charged themselves but whatever the case they didn't come apart at all. After a night of rest in the backwoods, to thick for zombies to be prone to bothering with, they got into Portland.

And Portland was not the same as people from alternate Earth's remember it. If the old Portland alternatives had represented freedom of love and cannabis smoking this Portland represented military power embracing liberal civilian tendencies, such as cannabis and free love. The military had bolstered the town and thus it had become the capital town and boomed for population. From the seem of it all most of the town was above ground (which was apparently rare) but everyone knew there was a classified military base underneath the city. That was where everyone was interested in going. Triela wanted guns, and lots of them. Ed wanted those electronics. Medli wanted nothing but Matsui was just curious to find out what was inside. Lilly didn't deny at all that she would do to benefit from getting some new world military threads. Vincent wanted ammo, guns, everything that Triela did. They were both gun wielders. Difference was, Vincent was an immortal holster jockey. Triela left her pistols in her breast pocket with zombies and used long-arms to answer her diplomatic needs. It was good that neither one would be needing the ammunition of the other.

It took them a half a hour to find the military base hatch. Another half an hour to clear the area and set up a good defense structure to hide them from zombies. They went in. Triela was still unarmed so she was set at the center of the line-up. She had the speed and litheness Matsui and Vincent lacked.. Vincent stayed in back. He had superior range and his cape could spirit people away if needed. Lilly and Medli stayed on the inside, to either side of Triela. Ed right behind Matsui, who led the party. With his superior martial arts skills no amount of zombies to turn him over provided they didn't flank him. With the halls as they were, however, there was little chance of that. Ed had been watching his practice. He had a bubble around him and when put to the front, in a hallway four men wide, Matsui would be able to hold a charging herd of elephants.

Ed pointed out the way for him. She didn't know anything about this complex but she was glad for signs. Eventually they found their way to the Armory. They were well rewarded for coming there first. As they got in Vincent shot a zombie in the head straight off. The door was closed behind them. Zombies couldn't get through such heavy doors, of course, so they didn't have to worry about noise or intrusion through them whilst they browsed.

Triela got the most firepower. Where she had been lithe and mobile with no weapons to her name, complete with KS-23 (in the confiscated boxes) a mark three jackhammer and the Ithica MG-10 Roadblocker she was a tank of metal hanging off a girl too small for one to think to carry that much weight. Triela liked big guns. Pistol after pistol disappeared into Vincent's cape and Lilly found a few nice rifles to keep her safe. Her and Medli, though now armed, were still in the middle. Difference was Matsui was behind Triela and Triela right at the front where she wanted to be. Ed led from third place.

Thirty Minutes later they found the computer room. Zombie moans were loud around the halls and they had already had run-ins with old zombie military men, snatching clips from this one and that off the dead belts. The door slid shut and clicked loudly, implying that the only zombies they had to worry about were...

Triela and Vincent fired rapidly. Matsui beheaded three free zombies. The room was clear. Computer displays lined the walls, all of them.

They explored the room for a bit. Ed was now in her element. This was her domain. For that matter things seemed at least a bit more advanced than they should have been. More like the data pool from Bebop Tech. Ed started getting into the system, touching her old hacker roots. She felt the power finally back at her fingertips. "Eyes of the times, Let Ed see your rhymes." Ed muttered with a twisted smile, drawing a small receiver from her glasses and putting it on the board. A holographic board appeared in front of Ed. She types away at super speed. Closer to Bebop tech maybe but it didn't hold a hand to what Ed had seen in her short life.

A half a minute went by before something went wrong. Medli just happened to be the one to press the one wrong button. The lights blinked red and a siren went off. WEEEEEooo! The alarm sounded. WEEEEEooo! "What's going on?" Triela called out.

Lilly was at a display screen, little numbers soaring by in certain orders and algorithms. "Wait..." She squeaked. "Oh, this is way ahead of my time. Give me a second." Everyone gathered around Lilly, as she seemed to know something even that Ed couldn't, just by looking at these numbers flitting uselessly across the screen. "Gimme a second... R-I-T-Y (PERIOD) N-U-C-L-E-A-R (SPACE) W-A-R-H-E-A-D (SPACE) L-A-U-N-C-H-E-D (PERIOD) H-A-M-M-E-R-F-A-L-L (SPACE) P-R-O-T-O-C-O-L (SPACE) I-N-I-T-I-A-T-E-D (PERIOD) What's the mean guys?"

Triela dropped her shotgun. "Means we've got a short amount of time to stop a really big bomb or we all die..."

The base rumbled. Ed brought up a screen from a camera outside, looking at the launch pad. The missile took less than half a minute to launch. Ed hadn't even gotten used to the controls yet!

Medli was at the door. "Let me out!" she demanded hysterically, "Let me out!"

Matsui wouldn't be able to calm her but he tried nonetheless "Medli. We'll be fine."

"Actually," Ed was the unfortunate one to have to say, "It's lookin like that's the exact opposite of what we'll be here in a few minutes. I can't hack out the procedures. This is heavier than I thought."

Triela was the next to speak, after perhaps two seconds where Ed's fingers on keys were the only sounds outside the alarms. It was a sigh. "Alright, since none of you seem to know what any of this means all of you are going to have to pay very close attention t me and do exactly as I say." Triela turned to Lilly, "Lilly, you're the only one who can read this stuff on the screen with all the numbers. Would you please read it off?" Lilly nodded, a look of concern about her.

Triela looked to Medli, "Medli, stop freaking out. You have a crucial part in this. You can carry Matsui, right?" Medli regained her integrity, at least for a moment, to nod. "You and Vincent have to carry Matsui to th heights. He knows what to do from there. "Matsui, the little red light's where you want to cut. It's the detonation device. "I'm gonna need both of you on the sky." The missile was well airborne now, going straight up. "You're not gonna have much air up there but something tells me you won't have to work too hard. Ed, you work the systems. I what all of this shut down before t an go out of control. We're already too far in and I can't have any idea what this nuke is capable of. I already have an idea what I'm going to do." Triela gestured for the radio and Matsui tossed her the one end. "Give me directions, Ed." Triela said, "We only have one chance on this." Triela opened the door. Matsui tore through and Medli scrambled out the door. Her arms turned to wings and she got them open with just enough room to take off and down the hall with an angel's grace. Matsui would find her outside, they knew. Vincent was gone, just nowhere else. The door closed and Lilly was left alone with Ed. She kept rack of the monitors while she hacked. Two minutes ago, maybe. Now that the missile was out of the silo, there was little chance for ed to get it turned off on time. They were really going to die...

Ed lifted the radio to her lips and gave Triela the directions to the hangar and garage. "Got it, Ed. Open Hangar bay door C-84JX." Triela's voice echoed trough the radio. Ed did so.

Outside

The noise had attracted zombies. It made little difference when Vincent and Medli took to the skies. Soon as Matsui was out she swept back down and hoisted him into the air. A great hole in the ground was opening, sliding slowly to the fully ajar position. Zombies swarmed in.

Triela was in a new machine. She didn't know what it was but the controls were simple, just to her liking. Some kind of mobile power suit or something. It stood a story and a half tall. When she got in the setup was simple; On/Off. The helmet in the cockpit responded to Triela's thoughts and the leg cuffs where she wanted to move in the vehicle based on muscle twitching in her legs. There were special memory gloves that responded to her hand movements. "Fully integrated manual interface." Triela said with a grin as the hatch opened. She wondered... what could this thing do?

The thing changed as the zombies came in. It crunched and folded away from the zombies then spikes drove out and circular wheels formed under. Triela hit the gas and out the ramp the new super car flew, crushing ten zombies as it landed and accelerating into several dozen more. Soon as she had some healthy distance the vehicle went mech mode again and Triela barely had to think to swing her about and lay waste.

In the sky Matsui was having a bit of vertigo. When Medli needed a break her and Vincent would trade off and he would be shunted into the pocket dimension under Vincent's cloak, none too pleasant. The missile was way too fast. He doubted they had the chance to catch up, much less soar upward. Vincent was losing wind quickly but somehow Medli was only flying stronger with the seconds. She began to switch off less with gaining altitude and Vincent began lagging behind but launching Matsui farther with each trade-off. "Matsui," Vincent spoke to Matsui as he didn't have the drag any longer to remain aloft, "Do what it takes."

And Matsui hit a few g's as Vincent's arm pulsed while he threw the spearman Matsui could tell it wouldn't be enough but he tried for certain. Medli caught him at the apex. She was somehow flying stronger than Matsui had ever seen her fly. "Medli!" Matsui called up over the roar of the not too distant missile, "How are we going to do this?"

There had been no arc or curve. The missile was just going straight up. When it came to its apex, which was still being determined, it would fall back to Earth and leave a really big hole where Portland, Oregon once was, killing everyone and destroying everything. "I don't know!" Medli huffed out as she climbed, "But..." There was a fire in her eyes, "I'm gonna do it!" Something crackled in her eyes, a spark of memory. She lost herself in the flash inside her mind.

She Remembered

"I'm glad you've come to see me Link," she said, looking a a man whose face wasn't well enough defined, "We all thought you'd never come back." He smiled and scratched the back of his head. "I won Birdman contest. I proved that a woman can fly just as good as any man, better even than you, the former champion."

Back In Reality

She felt her pecs burning like never before. Sparks of flight in her old world flashed into her mind. Her body remembered the true strain of flight under pressure. She had rescued people and flown longer than anyone ever before. No mailman flew faster than her and she spoke some strange language of ancient prophetic times. She had magic like hadn't been seen in long years. The first she had learned was the flight to carry her faster than the wind, the powers granted to her from Helios and Cyclos.

The roar of the engine and pressure in the air didn't stop her after that and neither did the lack of good air. Medli rose higher and higher, her great wingbeats pushing her into thin atmosphere. Matsui was lucky to have climbed mountains before because he would have had a hard time breathing otherwise. The missile came closer and closer. Medli steered aside to avoid the heat. Her wings looked... longer than when Matsui had seen them out only a day before. The were redder too. This wasn't the time to think about that though. He leaped and caught the fin, Medli falling away below. It was all he needed. He was lucky he had his feet by the time he pinned himself above the fin. There was a red light, right? Matsui crawled toward the nose. He couldn't breath. He couldn't hold on... but...

Then the missile broke apart...

And five hundred one-foot wide balls fell slowly from the sky.

Underground

Ed was going ballistic. "They've broken apart! Triela they've transformed into a cluster effect! We didn't see this coming!" Ed signed off the direction giving to Lilly. She needed only read the code to get the directions, which she seemed to be getting even better at with the passing seconds. She was reading it faster and easier. Francois Edward Wong How Pepilou Tivruski III would not be beaten by the technology she hacked! She dove into the system, immersed herself in cyberspace, the ocean of digitalization. "Nuke coming down, You're such a clown!" Ed spoke aloud in the real world, her eyes wide open in her glasses screens. She could feel it again! There it was, her power! Her hands types at the holoscreen ever faster and she infiltrated system after system. Half of this would be taking over the right systems, no relation to overriding the nuke itself. Get clearance!

"Five hundred one megaton cluster warheads inbound. UGT is intercepting at west side of cluster." Lilly spoke into the radio " Two UATs on rise to contact cluster field. Field-Mech 4 strike target Alpha, Zeta, Epsilon, Beta, Mu.

Above

Triela switched to vehicle mode again, drove for about ten second and heard the radio call in her system. This thing was neat. She noticed a screen appear on her left side. Chancing a look at it se thanked herself for caring. _Integrate weapons into combat system. All weapons fully accepted for integration._ That was the fastest Triela had every pressed "Yes" to something in her life.

Her weapons were pulled from her body and into the metalwork behind her. "**Weapons Integration stand by. Modifying active transformation system for weapons integration."** the computer spoke into Triela's helmet. Her seat shifted and began moving upward. He metal around her wait tightened up but above her wait became more free. The gloves on her arms bulked up and the frame around her opened in many areas. Triela could feel the wind, breath the air. She could see the collection of newly modified guns rising in the racks around her. The zombies were attracted by the noise but, as Triela lifted her arm the left half of the system lit up in firepower, peppering down a swath of zombies.

"**Coordinated received"** The computer voiced attractively, **"Accept new computer coordinator for reception?"** Triela accepted. Where the old computer voice was attractive and feminine this one was Nordic and masculine, wrathful in all of it's aspects. "**Alright Bitch, now we go'nn destroy everyt'ing! Light de sky up with red!**

The remaining systems loaded up. The guns she had given away to the machine had been cannibalized but if they got through this Triela wouldn't care anymore. _If we don't succeed will I care anymore either?_ Triela wondered as she aimed for the skies and fired off, keeping Matsui out of her targeting range. Her car mounted guns kept the zombies at bay and her torso cannons fired at the warheads. _I hope this doesn't go completely wrong_ Triela thought, indeed suspecting bombs to explode when shot out of the sky, as any reasonable person would. But orders from the top were as such. Her handler had given the word.

In the air Matsui leaped from stage to stage. These one foot wide balls of matter were nuclear and each one of them had that little red light. They made for easy targets if you remembered to cut them before you landed, right? His movements were fractaline, bouncing from the most convenient location to the next. Now that ground fire had been initiated Matsui felt better at the odds of cutting five hundred little wires in midair about to fall to his death.

"This is CRAZY!" He realized in full Japanese wail, cutting through yet another warhead and bypassing it entirely. It was insanity, he was going to die, surely! A shell zipped by his body, cutting his shirt open as she fell. "Watch out down there!" He rared as his spear swiped through the air to cut out another bomb. He didn't like the look of it bu the ground was getting uncomfortably close and the number of warheads taken care of only crawling toward the desired 0. There was only one thing to do...

The sky brightened. Below Triela jerked to cover herself but the light was not an explosion. Matsui's body came alight. He almost seemed to float. Medli soared nearby. Her head itched fiercely. She didn't want to die. What was that feeling in the back of her head? She wanted to sing, to play her harp... harp? What did that mean? She blacked out suddenly.

Matsui floated, still falling but slower, glowing bright. The Shinpaku flag's lettering emboldened itself in the light of the day, little as was there any longer. The day had been dragging on. "Shinpaku Slash!" He called and the spear glowed brightly. He swept the tip through the air slowly and the edge erupted into a blade of energy, cutting the air like a traveling blade. Everything it touched was cut perfectly. And it went some way. Another cutting beam and another after another. The warheads split left and right but it wasn't enough. Matsui was no true master as Kenichi's teachers had been. What would Tosaka Shigure do? A picture of the tall, buxom weapon master "hmpphing" came to his mind. Matsui gave one hopeful look to the ground, his confidence shattered to notice that, soon enough, he would splatter. Kenichi wouldn't be scared by this fall, would he?

Back Under

Ed frantically hacked at the system. This was years before her. She had to reroute all of her good skills and then reverse engineer them to work in stupid! Lilly read off status calmly, as though none of this affected her. What else could she do though? Ed struggled in her head briefly before slapping herself mentally back into place. If she didn't hit the right buttons here... would Semiaghn matter at all anymore? A pair of delicate fingers went to Ed's glasses, then pulled a string out, attached it to the console. There wasn't an adapter or any kind of place to plug it in but suddenly her glasses lit up. The screen worked double time. Ed was inside. Her digital body floated through the abyss, moving data from here to there. She could concentrate better in complete digitalization.

"T-minus seventeen seconds until impact." Lilly's voice echoed into the radio. Please don't explode, Ed wanted to say. But she really did have that option, that control. She had to actually use it.

Matsui fell on the monitor. He had stopped glowing; he was out of steam. Medli caught him. Triela fired on hordes of zombies, peppering shots into the sky to knock out other warheads. How many more? Lilly would know. Shut it all down. Shut it all down! Vincent soared about, doing what he could. "Ten seconds until impact." Lilly's voice echoed through the system. Medli was screaming or speaking or something on the screen. It was clearly not to Matsui. Ed applied audio. She was... singing. Ed went back to work. Vincent got struck on the head by a dead warhead. He was falling. Triela was being overrun. "Five Seconds Until Impact." Lilly read.

Triela's unit self destructed. The gunslinger got out, pistol in hand as her body tumbled from the flaming wreckage into the horde. Vincent regained his flight, soaring down to assist Triela. "Four." Medli's body cast aglow the sky as Matsui's had earlier, though this glow, instead of a bright golden color, was dusty brown and earthy red, still aglow like no other light having been made on this earth. "Three." Ed scampered about the system, trying to find that off switch. She didn't have time for this. She'd gotten full clearance "Two."

There it was! That bit of data! Ed secured the operation and got through the wall. "One." Wait... Two person operation only? She needed another person!"

… There was a boom. The warheads detonated. The flash was brighter than a hundred suns. Suddenly, the world stopped. Blind from the flash through her glasses, Ed stared through the screen as time slowly rewound. The light of Medli was the only thing that moved unusually for the standard backward timing. The glow sank back into her as time rewound. "T-minus Seventeen Seconds Until Impact."

She had another chance. Never mind that time travel was supposedly impossible but she had another chance! "Lilly, stop reading from there, put your finger over this button and press it when I say!" Lilly stepped to the keyboard as Ed repeated her dive. The screens played out how they were supposed to, save Medli didn't glow this time. The number came. "Now!"

Above

The warheads hit the ground with a dull thud. Weapons systems in the base took over, after so long having been down. The hammer-down protocol terminated, Ed was able to get everything back up and working before Triela's mech was damaged too much for repair. Everyone was safe.

They parted. Ed never mentioned anything to Medli. The Rito never mentioned anything to her. But the stare-down between them when they all said goodbye... Well they both knew and they knew they were the only ones. It was a shame they had to part but Ed was able to fix up a good small aircraft for their return. Shinpaku Federation, however, took the SUV. Triela had kept her mech.

When they returned Ed was glad to see things hadn't fallen apart. Yuko was setting up Nexus and Chouji was training new recruits. Everyone else just lazed about as usual. The supplies Ed had gotten would fuel the next part of her place as a member of The Legacy Of Eight. The electronics from the Portland Base, and the nuclear warheads didn't hurt to take apart either, would help Ed recover "Bebop Tech." The sooner Ed setup her branch the better. Though it would have to wait some time Ed knew better than to think this trip had been worth nothing. She told Yuko later of who they had met. The Shinpaku Federation would be noted in Semiaghn's history.

{HR}

There ya be. Sorry if it was unlike what you wanted. Took me a while T_T

As you may have noticed, there are new characters:

Shinpaku Matsui – History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi – 23

Medli – Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker – 22

Lilly Stechin – Pumpkin Scissors – 24

Triela – Gunslinger Girl – 20

If you haven't guessed the pairings of this group yet, you're silly XP

For now Shinpaku is not going to have much interaction with The Legacy Of Eight, but they'll be back ^^


	5. SeeThrough & Newcomers All

The New World

A Crossover

Hey All! Tankou001 here with an all new chapter of The New World!

{HR}

Chapter Five: See-Through & Newcomers All

There was a nip at the air. First Citizen Miyuki could feel it in her bones. She smiled at the thought of seeming old in her mind, when her body still represented that of a seventeen year old. She turned on her heel, adorned in the garb of the "First Citizen." This blue robe hugged the waist and flared at the ends. The sleeves were half sleeves, just past her elbows. At her hip a blade hung silently. Chouji had made it for her. This attire was to give a look of "normal" to Semiaghn, this crazy devil city bent on "helping" everyone. Whether that wasn't all just some weird farce or not, Miyuki had no ability to say They had certainly done more good than harm in this world where nobody was safe to do anything without being torn apart by rampant zombie hordes. Miyuki still didn't know how zombies hadn't ever stepped into the village ground proper.

But it was some safety. Where Miyuki didn't have any place fighting zombies she did have practice at working people into order. Thus First Citizen Miyuki wore the garb of an old world scholar; a robe and knife. Her feet were bare, though she could take the cool earthen hill beneath her face, even as autumn was creeping on. She stared at the beginnings of a very possible city, houses being put up with the help of Vash The Stampede.

Two weeks ago Ed had left with Vincent and come back a few days later with something in a helicopter. Vincent had stayed after the debriefing but Ed quickly went underground, deep into the bowels of the Estate and hadn't come out much save for quick things. Miyuki couldn't enter Ed's "dungeon" and she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

The morning went on slowly as Miyuki settled the affairs of the other immigrants. Some had a problem that she was given a title like First Citizen even though she was just a child. As every day, she politely reminded them that she was older than she looked, as well as the fact that her age wasn't at all dependent on her getting to Semiaghn first... Then the fighting began and Miyuki punched out yet another immigrant. Ten people came a day, two left the same day. This was the norm.

She did a count. How many mouths would they need to feed today? "Five-hundred-forty-seven, not including the bears..." She said to herself calmly. She made a note in her mind. _Hope those crops Yuuko's started get growing more quickly._ She thought. Yuuko had "planted" crops for them. Said a week ago they would produce fruit in a month. Hard to believe but the food stores would hold for a year on these numbers and more. They would be fine for now, though Miyuki still wondered.

She turned in her reports to Osaka, then took a break from the people. She fled to Yuuko's room. "You will always be welcome in my quarters, First Citizen Miyuki." Yuuko had told her. "Just please knock first, thrice only."

She knocked thrice, as she had day after day, time and again during the light of noon. The door opened. She stepped in and it closed behind her. Yuuko lay on her bed, drawing from her pipe, the one she had been gifted from the UCOF when they had been brought, something Miyuki still couldn't rightly fathom. The billowing smoke wafted through the air of the room that was larger on the inside than the outside. The pungent smell of grass and sweet opium rolled through the her senses. It fogged things up in one's head normally. She could tell this already about Yuuko's "Magic." Smoke and mirrors it was, sometimes literally. But First Citizen Miyuki still couldn't help to fear the Dimensional Witch Yuuko. Perhaps, under all the smoke and mirrors, true magic lie dormant, ready to be used willingly. She couldn't say.

Yuuko's three apprentices scampered about the room; cleaning or reading, refilling Yuuko's pipe or serving her something to eat or drink. Miyuki was a bit disgusted, to be honest. Yuuko didn't do anything, so it seemed, though the eternal 17 year old was aware that she was possibly one of the most powerful in the Legacy Of Eight

Aldamori, a girl of 6 who Yuuko had ordered her name changed, as with the other two, practically slid to Miyuki's feet, offering her something to eat, a cake of some sort. Miyuki took the plate and Aldamori scampered away. "You know you shouldn't work them like this..." Miyuki said simply, looking at Verituri dart from a door at the far end of the room to Yuuko just to beat poor Alda to refilling Yuuko's pipe. Alda almost ran into her dark skinned fellow apprentice but spun on her heel four times and dizzily stumbled into a nearby door at the opposite end of the room from where Veri came in.

"Oh?" Yuuko piped, offering a smile. "Should I get another one? I forgot how wonderful it is to have serva- Apprentices. Am I working them too hard?"

"The only one learning anything here is Porthi..." Miyuki said. Porthikuri was a caramel skinned girl with almond eyes of the very purest blue. It was almost like an anomaly to see such genetic appearance. Currently the seven year old had her nose buried in a book, her eyes tearing up but the tears that flowed down disappeared soon as they left her face. Her eyes were open and direct, focused but not sad. "And how would I know what she's reading, crying in a corner like that?"

"She's not crying, you know?" Yuuko said blandly.

"No, she's just shedding formless tears over a magic book in a world where none of this should exist..."

"Would you like to become an apprentice, Miyuki?" Yuuko asked with a smug smirk.

"No!" she said, swallowing the last piece of cake. "Wow this is really good..."

"From my home. Back in my shop my part-timer made this every time I asked him!"

"Really?" Miyuki asked, getting off track "Was it a pastry shop?"

"No, I granted wishes."

"Like getting to swim in a pool of spaghetti before you die?" Miyuki put the plate on a table but before she could even set it down it was gone in the hands of a little apprentice.

"You'd be more likely to get that from an Italian restaurant... Or possibly Akimichi-dono." Yuuko replied with a shrug

"Then what like?" Miyuki asked. She couldn't help but to smile at Yuuko's reference to Chouji. He had been nice to her and full of recipes. The First Citizen was free to follow her wills on any occasion so far as she remembered to do one thing. "You must never stop bettering yourself as an individual in a manner that the common folk can aspire to." Yuuko had told her upon granting her Citizenship. "The Job of First Citizen is to be a role model. As you will live eternally as we will it will make things convenient for us all. You will learn pottery, jump-rope, language skills, music of all kinds, dance, sports, martial arts and culinary practices among myriad other things that mortals have been doing for all of their existence to pass the time and get along. It had seemed daunting but the Dimensional Witch had promised her that she could take her time. She had plenty of it, After all.

"Do you have a wish?" Yuuko asked from her bed.

"To grow older."

"That's a wish I could grant you..." Yuuko said simply, "But you would have to pay for it."

"How?"

Yuuko leaned her head back on her plush pillowed bed, sighing comically and lifting her free hand. Her thumb, index and middle fingers rubbed against each other. "Nothing is free, First Citizen Miyuki. For a wish to be granted there must be equivalence. It's not like you will pay money or luxuries for this... perhaps, until you know how magic works you should be wary of it."

Miyuki paused, then got mad. "Now wait here!" she said, pointing her finger at Yuuko, "What the hell do you mea-?" The room darkened. The apprentices were nowhere to be seen. Yuuko was already, somehow, standing in front of her.

"There are some people..." Yuuko said slowly, "Who cannot know magic no matter how hard they try. You still think what I do is fiction. While that may not make it any less true in its existence, it means it's not going to be easy for an individual with that mindset to attain it. Leave my room..."

And she did. Yuuko was back on her bed. Someone had a wish nearby, A legitimate one. They were coming. The same effect that had been at the shop worked for her room. Nobody but Kaede and Chouji would meet anyone en route to her room. Kaede and Chouji knew they would be able to see this. Once the door opened and swallowed them, however, they would be in Yuuko's domain. _I am going to be paying this tree back for centuries to come, I'm sure..._ She thought as Veri stepped up to her, looking at her, taking in what Yuuko was. _But to be alive... who knew?_ Indeed Yuuko knew herself as dead. That other Yuuko would be, after all. If not now then some day. Yuuko had given herself up to that fate. Now she was free of it. Now she was stuck in life eternal. Her time wouldn't ever come... no... She didn't have a time anymore.

The door opened. Vash The Stampede stepped through, a look of confusion on his face. Yuuko raised an eyebrow. She was sure Vash's wish was null, already granted. "Oh..." Vash said with a grin of nervousness, clouded by the smokiness of Yuuko's room. "Apologies, Yuuko. Don't know how I got in here. Was just trying to help someone out with a new home. Must have slipped in by coincidence."

Yuuko smiled. "There is no coincidence." She snapped her fingers and the apprentices brought in tea, a chair and table. Vash found himself sitting, whether he liked it or not. "There is only Hitsuzen; the inevitable. You are here because you have a wish. I am here to grant it if that is something I can do, for a price, of course."

Vash blinked. There was something on his mind as he graciously took a glass of whiskey from Alda. "Not really. Maybe to help people more ably. I don't want much..." Vash's eyes glittered with something Yuuko hadn't seen in some time. "Just for those I love to be happy. So nobody dies in this time." Vash looked at the whiskey in his hand. "Nobody deserves to die..." he said wistfully.

Yuuko smirked. "Indeed." She said, her face going serious, her eyes closed. "Nobody deserves to die." _But they do, nonetheless. Still, for my first wish in this world... it's not so hard._ "This is a wish I can grant, if you will but pay the price."

Vash straightened. "How so?"

Yuuko paused, looking out the corner of her eyes at nothing, thinking. _Something tangible would be a good start..._ "Your gun." she said, as though the choice had been simple for her. "The silver one."

Vash looked shocked. "Seriously?"

Yuuko nodded. _This isn't the only option by any means. He has so much to him of value. But losing his gun, being stuck with the other... It will teach him the peace he needs. He came to this world with that gun, not his brother's black one._ "You have another, don't you?"

Vash looked at his left hip, seeing through the coat he wore. "Yes..."

"But you fear to use it?" Vash didn't answer. "I know not what it is that holds you back, but that gun is a very negative thing. If I didn't know better I'd say you would rather part with it than keep it... save for some baggage."

"But I need my main gun."

"And yet the other is just as good as the silver, right?"

"Well..."

Yuuko shrugged. "It's not my wish. Just the price of it."

Vash stood and reached into his coat, the right side. He pulled his gun and tossed it on Yuuko's bed. "So you'll grant my wish?" He asked seriously.

"In time." Yuuko smiled. "For now, just get off somewhere."

Vash nodded. Then he left, feeling very unfulfilled. Now he had no gun... or at least he didn't have HIS gun... just Knives' gun... He remembered the evil that was his brother, how he had never killed him nor would he ever kill anyone. But he brought Knives' gun along when he was brought to this world. And now that gun of malice was all he had, the only thing he would be be able to use at full power. For an hour he helped someone build a house. Then he wandered into the woods. It was a good time for a walk.

The air was getting chilly. Vash was unused to it; the chill in the air, the humidity, the lack of seeing anything but a dried up wasteland wherever he looked. It made him smile, strangely enough, verdant life everywhere. He walked for some hours before he thought to stop. There was a sound; moaning. He drew his gun... Knives' gun... He wouldn't be getting used to that anytime soon.

A dull thump came from the other side of the hill. Sounds of something on wood, people on wood. Vash slid down the slope on the opposite side. He opened fire. A zombie took a leg shot, fell over face first into the ground and moaned loudly. The others were on Vash. _They're already dead_ he forced himself to say in his mind. One, Two Three, Four zombies later Vash kicked in the door they had been trying to get into. The black pistol whirled around the room a few times. It was an old log cabin, largely one room, a loft and bathroom. The furnishings were, of course, lacking.

Vash opened the bathroom, then checked the loft. They wouldn't have been trying to get in unless someone was here. He opened what must have been a closet... And a pile of blanket and hair spoke to him. "D-Don't open it... O-Okay?" The small female voice was practically silent with fear. He could hear the shiver in her speech, the gentle clatter under the blanket. She didn't look at him but the mound of blanket shook subtly. She was cold and scared, of this Vash could tell. "Can you get up?" he asked, his posture softening, holding a hand out.

The mound of small female shook more intentionally. She would be moving. "How long have you been here, miss?" Vash asked kindly.

"So... H-Hungry..." she muttered just loud enough for Vash to hear.

Vash was taken aback somewhat. He reached into his pocket, pulled a radio out. "Anyone hear me?" He asked, pressing the little button like he was supposed to. No answer, no signal. "What's your name?"

The blanket shook. "K-Kiri Komori..."

"Do you need help getting out? I know a place to go, with food and safety."

The blanket again shook, the black hair shaking. "I w-won't leave... Dangerous..."

Vash looked back at the door. It wasn't going to do much good now. "This place isn't safe anymore" It wasn't before. "I need to get you out of here..."

"If I go..." She said weakly, "I'll never see my friends again..." she shook harder. "I.. I don't want to be in heaven..."

Vash came to a crystallization... This girl was like him, Like the Legacy Of Eight. She wasn't from here. She must be in such shock. "You have come a long way, haven't you?" He asked, generous smile rolling across his face. "You're from another world. One not so strange as this. I bet..." He paused, trying to think of what a normal human from Earth would think was normal, "I bet where you're from this is just from... movies or something, right?"

"Where I'm from..." She started, her teeth chattering, "I'm alone save for my teacher... I stay... in the school..." She shuddered underneath the blanket as a cool wind rolled in. "I'm... a freak even there..."

Vash reached out and touched her, spreading the bangs aside to reveal a thin pale face. He could see how she would have been attractive only days before but now... she must have waited so long before now to eat. She must have been starving. Tears fells from Vash's eyes. He stood. Kiri tried to push him away but her delicate hands were like air. He drew his bubbler, smoked a bowl. Then he leaned down and lifted Kiri. The tears never stopped flowing. She tried to fight it at first, then slip away. But the hikkikomori was too weak to get away. Eventually she settled into his arms, unconscious but alive.

"In this world where I am a freak nobody will be a freak..." Vash whispered as he walked back toward Semiaghn. "Acceptance... everyone will be accepted, no matter what they are unless they bring harm... We will accept all who come and with them we will build a future..." He wasn't talking to Kiri. He was promising himself. "This gun at my side was once evil. I have given my good away... Let me bring good to what bad I have brought and use it for this world... Nobody Deserves To Die."

Kaede smiled as she stared down from a tree limb high above. A child lay in her arms, an infant she had taken from the countryside. The mother was dying, a bite victim. Kaede had taken the child from her and promised she would raise her well. Little did the unsuspecting mother understand just what Kaede was up to when she offered this baby, a child untouched by the horrors of post apocalyptia with a free pass lain out before her. It pleased the ninja woman what Vash was doing. The Legacy Of Eight needed more compassionate individuals. Her, Yuuko, Chouji, Vincent, Blackstar. Over half the Legacy that centered around the pseudo-wrathful sorts of rule. Ed, Osaka and Vash had to be the ones to hold them all together through peace.

As she neared Semiaghn she passed it up. Two miles behind the estate proper was a compound built into a cliff face; seventy feet up. Impossible for any normal person to scale. Nagase Kaede, however, was no normal individual. She leaped the cliff and ducked into the small tunnel, the infant in her arms just beginning to stir. Inside seven other infants cried with four young women tending to them with moderate difficulty. "I have another." Kaede spoke with a small smile as she stepped in and placed the new child in a crib. This was how it would be for some years. Kaede would steal children by night and train them by day. She had four assistants to help with the raising of the infants Kaede would bring in. Most importantly, none of the assistants could form attachments or let the children grow to love them.

Kaede could be their only mother...

It wasn't selfishness, of course. Kaede didn't want true children yet. She didn't want to have babies. But she needed to raise these ones and many more. Her branch of the new world order would take years longer than most other branches to be born into the system but true ninjas were an asset worth the wait. The sooner Kaede could train them, set them to work on something that they would not stray from... soon as they became toddlers they would be working. Kaede had never lied to any dying mothers when she promised to raise their son well. She never whispered falsehood to a father bit by a zombie who gave his infant daughter away to a promise of raising her strong and safe. In fact, she was telling more truth than parents knew. One in every ten children in the old days of ninjas lived. Kaede could guarantee ten out of ten every time with just the same efficiency... But it would be a hard life from the start. They would never know of their true parents.

An assistant came and looked over the new infant. A baby cried in the background. Kaede went to him. "Your name..." She muttered, trying to recall. "Is Muzeng-ta." She remembered correctly. The assistant nodded shyly. None of them had what it took to be true ninja. Too old. Kaede wouldn't train them. However, until they died they had sworn to be the backbone of Kage No Deshi, tending to the children in black masks, never saying a word to them. Kaede was the only adult these children would know the voice of for years. "Your mother loves you, Muzeng-ta." She poked at his nose playfully. "You don't know what it is yet that you are part of... but you will someday." She put him back in the crib. "I trust everything is proceeding well. None of my children sick?"

One of the assistants nodded in affirmation. "I will be leaving again tonight for another. Expect me to return before the morning." The assistants nodded and Kaede left just as another infant started wailing. One good thing about being Mother to a traditional ninja clan; you didn't have to deal with the issues of actual parenting. Kaede would wait for her own offspring before that happened. Idly she let a hand touch at her belly as she soared through the air in a leap from the cliff face. _With how Blackstar's been treating me.. that might only be a matter of time..._ she mused with a smile. Blackstar had been training, as he usually did. Though whenever he took a break and Kaede was within a mile he would find her and ravish her on the spot. Not like Kaede didn't like it but there was the fact that, in Zombie Earth, there was no contraception to speak of and, despite the control Kaede boasted of her own body, there was some small part of her that secretly wanted to bear children with the overactive warrior of his own path.

And it was that smallest of secret wishes that made Kaede susceptible to conception. If she knew, for a fact, that she didn't want something it was difficult for Kaede to cave and controlling her fertility was no different. But Kaede was still a child despite her new "mother" role. It was easy for her to lose sight of her goals and with Blackstar dominating her mind, body and heart... She didn't have the mental practice to keep up against his ministrations too much longer. Chances were, before the year was out, she would be with child. She would have to find a way to remedy Blackstar's complete need for control over her. She had promised to be his slave eternally, but she didn't understand just how long that would be at the time. There was the child in her, still. So used to flippant decisions like back in middle school with Negi. It would get her killed someday...

Oh wait... no it wouldn't. She wasn't allowed to die just yet, never would be. She shrugged and phased out through her cloak, phasing in on the roof of the Mansion. Where was he? Kaede wanted to find the most recent leader of things. Akimichi Chouji had been training his apprentices hard. Kaede wouldn't come to train her "children" for some years but Chouji would train his children as "boss" for some time. Eventually, however, as time comes people would call him "Father" as they would call Kaede "Mother."

It was almost unspoken, the rules The Legacy Of Eight had put forward. Kaede would be the mother in public and private, each a different archtype but both the same role. Chouji would be the Father of this civilization. Outside he would be the stern bringer of reason. Inside he was the doting father who pulled out an iron stare when it was called for and would be known to cuff an unruly child to get his point across. And nobody had asked them this, of course. They had simply slid into the roles, first to step up truly to cement their value in the new world. Ed had gotten off her butt sooner than anyone after settling in but Kaede and Chouji truly never had settled down.

While everyone had gotten ready for the upcoming year building the town Kaede had carved out a cliff and Chouji had trained bears to learn blacksmithing. Like any father Chouji's progress was open and public. Like any mother Kaede's progress was private and closed up. Even some in the Legacy didn't know of it just yet. _Maybe in a few years, after the kids are doing backflips_. Kaede giggled at this thought. She disappeared into her cloak and appeared elsewhere.

Chouji's students were doing backflips, or trying to. Chouji sat on a stump, watching his students train. "How long?" Kaede asked quietly as she appeared behind him.

"Five hours..." Chouji said with a growl, "And over a hundred face plants..." He stood slowly and drew The Mace. "Care for a bowl?" He asked. Kaede nodded. They lit up as Alex rammed his nose into the dirt with a wail of pain. Chouji sighed and took a long hit. As he passed it to Kaede he spoke out to his students, billowing clouds roiling from his lips. "All of you stop the flipping... Start punching the trees I set up for you..."

"And maybe they'll even be able to punch it for more than five minutes without complaining of bruised knuckles." she muttered with a giggle as she took a hit and passed back.

"I'd thank my lucky stars if they gave me such a break..." He sighed, taking another hit. Already they were complaining. Chouji had hoped he would be able to just train them in but even he hadn't liked paying attention to his lessons as a boy. He was a dropout, just like three of his old friends: Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru and Inuzuka Kiba. These students weren't dropouts like he had been. They had reason to complain. This kind of thing, what they were to become and teach to the generations to follow... It would have never been seen before in this world.

Kaede, however, only smiled at this. "You'll grow to love them." She said simply, pulling out her own bag to match her fellow begrudging world leader.

Chouji chuckled as Kaede smoked, staring off into the distance in the . "As I'm sure my teacher's lover told him when he took my team on for students." He said with a genuine smile.

There was silence between them suddenly. The world of nature screamed around them. Birds chirping, water running in the stream nearby, the gentle sound of people chopping wood and banging with hammers in the distance... the students, punching and grunting at the trees Chouji had wrapped in rope so they wouldn't break their hands...

Chouji realized the awkwardness of his statement and turned to look at her. Nagase Kaede's face was aglow with surprise, her lips in the silly shock of an "o." Her mostly closed eyes played with this picture. Chouji found himself blushing as well in the early afternoon cool. She smiled and licked her lips with a noise of intrigue. Chouji waved his hands. "I mean, not to say you're my lover..."

_It's a shame too._ Kaede thought with a shy smile. _He's got his priorities more straight than Blackstar._ "There are three types of maturity in the Legacy." Chouji made a questioning grunt as he inhaled. "Ed, You and Blackstar had yet to come to the advent of your sexuality when you arrived." Chouji blushed harder. Kaede didn't seem to take notice. "I can't say for Osaka but I have well already settled into my adulthood pleasures." This sort of thing wasn't much of an awkward subject for Kaede. Considering the circumstances, it was almost like venting for the calm ex-college girl. "And yet still we have those who are hundreds of years old, maybe thousands. Who knows. And they are beings who either exude sexuality or control it outright." Yuuko and Vincent came to mind most specifically. Kaede wouldn't say anything for Vash, certainly. He seemed so normal, which explained Osaka's affections for him, but Kaede could tell there was something he wasn't saying and wouldn't give out readily.

"I don't worry for things like that but it's nice to loom on the positive side of it." She said, looking through the woods at the trees. Alexis argued with Alayne. Xollo was smoking out of view of the others around his tree. Alex punched dutifully, wincing every strike of the way. "Maybe we should give them a show." She suggested.

Chouji shook his head, seemingly glad for the awkwardness to be over. "Not this early. Something we would show them would be far above what they should be seeing. Muscle training and form is best for now."

Kaede nodded. "I suppose I'm off then." Chouji gave a wave and continued watching the woods. Kaede disappeared into her cloak and popped back into the Estate. Outside Yuuko's room she appeared, giving a knock on the door. Three quick taps then two spaced apart as had been requested. The door opened and Kaede stepped in. It slid closed behind her. Strange, she noticed briefly.

The room was traditional Japanese; tatami floors, rice paper walls, simple lighting and paper sliding doors, including the one Kaede had walked through. "Welcome Kaede." Yuuko's voice touched her ears. The bed in the center of the room that was bigger than it had been built to be was mostly made of cushions that somehow stayed anchored enough to each other to make sense as a bed. Sweet plumes of smoke floated through the room as two girls, Veri and Porthi, zipped from here to there doing all sorts of menial tasks for the pale mistress. Kaede couldn't begrudge this sort of treatment. Who was she to judge a process she couldn't understand? "Why don't you take a seat?"

Veri brought a small table and Kaede sat in Shozen's Position in front of Yuuko's bed. The ninja drew her blade and set it on the table in front of her as the girls brought alcohol, tea, juice, finger foods and some chopsticks with a bowl of rice. Kaede gratefully ate. Yuuko and Chouji got good diet, as well as did most of the Legacy that ate, but Kaede was out more than in and she didn't eat as much as she should. She was pushing her limits regularly in this new world, starving herself and fighting zombies in the area surrounding Semiaghn. It was worse than she had guessed, as well...

Every day Kaede killed hundreds of zombies and led thousands further away from Semiaghn in all directions. But there were so many of them. In under a decade Semiaghn would go from a settlement community, as it was now, to an independent nation-state. In that time noise and human presence would drive zombies to return. After the turn of ten years they would have been attacked by hundred thousand strong armies of the walking dead whether they liked it or not. "You have something for me?" Yuuko asked

The ninja woman nodded seriously. "I do, Yuuko-sama." She drew a small box from her belt pouch and tossed it to Yuuko. The dimensional witch caught it, looked it over. "I thought you would be interested in it."

"That's generally why..." Yuuko responded simply. "You aware we have a new guest, one with potential?"

Instinctively the ninja woman knew Yuuko was speaking of Kiri Komori. "I am."

"I am taking her as a disciple." Yuuko stated as she unlaced the strings around the box to open it. "She has the innate gift for Dimensional Magic, more so than my three first students." She pulled out a pouch, simple thing. She loosened the top and peered in. "Wheat?" The witch asked. "Why wheat?"

"I haven't looked inside it since I got it." Kaede spoke. "I found it hanging off a branch in my travels."

"You'd think they would have the decency to make it something like a bottle of whiskey, maybe one of those little ones they serve on planes."

"Where's Alda?" Kaede finally asked, having noticed the third student wasn't present.

"Oh." Yuuko turned her head to look back at the door in the back right of the room. "I'm sure she's mostly alright." Kaede stood briefly and walked to the door. "Don't open it if you don't want to see what's on the other side..." Yuuko chastised.

Kaede opened the door anyway. Porthi and Veri turned away, "conveniently" busy with something else. Yuuko didn't blink or look. Kaede's eyes opened to the horror. She closed the door and jerkily strode back to the place where she had been sitting. "Would you lay with me?" Yuuko asked some moments later, her deep voice touching some place in Kaede's mind. _Like half way to the back and to the right._ Kaede nodded, unable not to. She strode to Yuuko's bedside. Slowly she stripped down everything that could be dangerous, that could cut or jab. Take off the bare necessities and Kaede's body was less covered in sharp things than one would assume for a ninja. Much more curvy.

Yuuko smoked as Kaede stripped out her "deadly's." She smiled up at Kaede as the ninja shyly sat next to her. "I understand it's a strange request." Kaede shook her head. "Though you try so hard not to let me know." The Ninja blushed. Wasn't this just happening between her and someone else, the other way around? Yuuko's slender hand reached about Kaede's waist and pulled her closer. A lethargy passed over the green haired woman. She lay on Yuuko's bosom, the fatigue leaving her. "I have a feeling tonight is going to be a lively one. We should both get some rest."

Kaede would have put up an argument but Yuuko's hand caressed her hair. A blanket seemed to form atop the two of them. Kaede felt so tired all of the sudden. Her mind splashed into an ocean of dreamscape. The world moved around her but it felt as though she was floating. Yuuko floated above her. They were nude but the sexuality did not translate. They embraced. Kaede's mind spoke into Yuuko's and vice versa, though somehow not verse vice-a. Was this some magic from Yuuko's reality? Kaede's mind balked at this. Yuuko's reality was Kaede's reality in their web, more than the other way around. Yuuko was the Dimensional Witch. It had been her job to futz around with worlds. Negi and her had helped Mars but Yuuko dealt with bigger things than that, thousands of worlds.

Kaede realized that it had been an answer from Yuuko, then, not her own mind. The silence was deafening in its own sort of way. There was this angelic symphony of the most beautifully soothing music around her but now sound. Kaede could feel recesses in Yuuko's mind she couldn't reach but didn't want to. At the same time she knew Yuuko could touch and play with every part of her mind, read it like an open book quite literally. It was a closeness Kaede wasn't aware existed. It was... so intimate. Kaede could have described it like orgasm but it reached a higher level. This was beyond sexuality. It was harmony within two souls.

The dreamscape warbled about them as they shared consciousness. What is your favorite colors? Yuko's was red; a deep, rich shade. Kaede's was green; An earthy, natural tone. Yuuko loved sweets and pastries and alcohol. Kaede loved mountain training and traveling and mushrooms. She felt Yuuko's mind smile within hers. She smiled back. It was all very primal, primitive. There was no language to get in the way, no translation system needed from mind to mouth. Though practically opposite beings, Kaede and Yuuko were very close now but there was no memory, no understanding; only very powerful bonding. Kaede couldn't have described it to anyone. Yuuko, of course, had done this many times.

They would rest within each other's minds for a time, until something roused them.

A crash sounded in the forest. Guns fired. Explosions and rubble. The moan of zombies was constant. People were yelling and fighting at full power. The Shinpaku banner flew about the air in hazy combat, so fast as to blur the eyes of the untrained Triela's Rider tumbled around the forest, Largely halting the horde and providing some support fire to Matsui now and then. Lilly's knife cut expertly through the head of any zombie that neared her or Medli.

"Fiesty, aren't ya?" his opponent said, blocking another barrage of spear attacks with a couple nearby logs, hefting them around as if they were nothing. "Faster than I dared think." A sweet smile lay upon her face. Matsui knew his efforts were making little difference. He had to amp it up!

"Shinpaku Slash!" He called, the air turning golden and lancing out at this strange character. She punched through it with a call. Her arm burst into flame, however, and she leaped back. Matsui gave chase.

"Good one, kid." She called, grabbing hold of a tree and ripping it out of the ground in midair, tossing it at him as she flew. Matsui cut through it but, as he landed next to her, bringing his spear down the arm he had ignited caught his pole. "Let's do this like adults then, shall we?"

Pain in his gut, the feeling of winds hitting his back, rushing past his. He saw her wave and landed in the swarm. Zombies were all over him. He spun. They flew. He decapitated one and speared the head of another, knocking the head he had just lobbed at the stranger, face still chomping for human flesh.

She dodged it easily. He looked at her, big blue eyes calm as still water. Her hair was a single, loose blue braid that reached the small of her back. Her ears were like a cats and she had a tail as well, all orange with a black tips. She wore a loose red shirt and underneath her breasts hung in a length of purple fabric that looped around the back of her neck and met her belt. It left little to the imagination. Loose purple pants, hanging half past the knee, waved against her well defined legs. Around her neck a collar of immense size sat. It must have been a hundred pounds. A couple prodigious chain links hung from a half-ring on the collar. It didn't seem to bother her.

Matsui cringed as the zombies closed in around him and he still had this foe to deal with. Shigure might have even had a problem with this one. "Ya know I don't mean to be rude," She called out, "But you're gonna get eaten." Triela's gunfire came upon her. She pulled a nearby cedar out of the ground and tossed it at the vehicle, dodging out of the way.

Matsui growled and leaped back into the fray. His spear swung from high and down with an explosion that never met its target, cleaving the ground open underneath him. He landed on the walls of the crevice and heard a voice. "Whew! Glad I didn't get hit by that one. That one just might've killed me."

He looked down as the ground shook underneath him, She stood balanced under him, pulling at something. As he began to move to strike her the earth around him fell apart. In the stranger's hand, her free hand in up top for a guard, was a boulder that couldn't have weighed less than ten tons. She arced it upward. He shoved into it, stabbing through the mundane stone like butter but the speed... It all made the boulder explode, showering the two of them with rock, crippling several zombies around them and actually scoring the decisive head shot to some. The opponent's arm was no longer aflame. It looked fine, more or less. Her smile had never faded.

She stood slightly off balance on a ledge, like gravity affected her different. Her bare toes curled over the ledge as Matsui rebalanced himself and went back in for the attack. He swung wide and reoriented, going in to pierce her heart. She twisted aside; She must have had true core flexibility because she twisted almost 180 degrees, leading his spear away with the end of the haft in a hand. Time slowed as she whispered into his ear, her own cat ears flicking in the moment. "Ya gotta learn to enjoy life, kiddo. Ease yourself."

The world shook. Sparkles everywhere, wracking pain in his temple; once, twice, thrice... he lost count but it couldn't have happened in more than a second. His mind swam against a hard current, floundering in itself. He was dizzy. Medli's voice called him as he swung back out reflexively but a hard punch to the eye blocked out the world.

He kept on his feet just enough to behead a zombie but he was fading fast. Triela rolled onto the scene, catching him in a big mechanical hand and roaring off. "Oh we wanna play faster, huh?" The stranger called, stomping a foot that shattered the ground beneath her, "I'm game!" She leaped and Triela was only just far enough out of the way for her treads to not end up getting her flipped. Her second jump, however, hit home. Triela's carrier had an extra passenger and this one was tearing into the compartment; the high strength polysteel framework, "This'll do just fine! Thanks a bunch!" She cried out happily, raising the beam high.

Triela swatted her off and fired full bore but it wasn't the end. The stranger had escaped without harm and instead with part of Triela's mech. The HUD blinked, reporting somewhat serious damage to the frame. Old Lady Retard Strength had ripped out one of the primary support beams of the exo-structure. The thing just couldn't work as well without all of them. A line of fire took out the others. This was out of hand.

"Triela," Lilly's voice spoke out on the radio, "Return now, Triela. This battle's done." Triela dipped out. Zombies swarmed them by the hundreds if not thousands even still and Matsui would be out of commission for some time. They didn't even know who this stranger was. She retreated back to where Lilly held the line and Medli took to the skies. Lilly climbed the frame but the stranger landed right in front of the mech. She put her floor on the front with a smile

Triela floored it... but the mech didn't budge. Zombies crept in, crawling from the destruction around them, jaws slackened in hellish moans that surrounded them, pervading the air and their minds. She raised the beam high. Triela closed her eyes "Get the fuck out of there!" A static filled voice ringed out on her radio.

An explosion rang out in front of them, sending the stranger flying. Who landed beside them was an individual tall and imposing, dressed in a power suit of gold and orange with an arm that was simply a green energy cannon. The left hand braced the barrel and she sent a volley of blasts at where the stranger was. Their power helmet showed a green "T."

Triela didn't need to be told twice. She hit the gas again and this time no freakishly powerful catgirl was present to stop her. Lilly held on for dear life and Medli flew along as Triela's mech went back into full vehicle mode, taking Matsui into the main cockpit. It got half back the way it should have been before something jammed up. Matsui was stuck half inside the wall and half inside the cockpit with her.

A thud came on her cockpit roof. A blue haired man, tall and fit with a Nodachi stood atop, a red cape billowing as the stranger from before flew through the air toward them from the battle behind. Lilly climbed to the top, knife bared. The stranger landed in between them and the furious melee began. Martial arts prowess, swordsmanship, knife fighting skills, backroom brawling; all of these were present as the fight broke out on Triela's roof. She spotted a rolling ball of orange and gold beside her, keeping up with the craft. As a piece of her vehicle dented in toward her Triela decided it was time to get personal. She typed in the settings for an autopilot protocol and spoke out. "Lilly get in here. Authorizing autopilot protocol Seven-One-Seven-Five-Four: Retrieving Weapon program handgun and bayonet; order One-Niner-Eight-Four-Zero."

And in half a second her rig had manufactured a 9 millimeter pistol and mountable short sword. The frame opened above her, dropping Lilly in and allowing Triela just enough time to shove a sword through the Stranger's foot before she slipped up top and the rigging closed beneath her. As the blond stood the Stranger narrowly avoided dying at the caped hotty's sword by sheer accident. The blade through her sole had thrown her off balance. She steadied herself just in time for Triela to flip over her, nearly cleaving her head off. Whoever this shirtless hunk was he wasn't fighting her or her own. They shared the same enemy. She had no need to worry about him just yet.

The mech made a sharp turn. Triela fell and swung herself back on the other side, kicking at the stranger. She got caught though and an elbow made impact with her gut. Triela could feel her bones bending under the pressure. There was horrible pain as she could feel the carbon framing her synthetic nerve tissue connected to screaming inside of her. The shirtless boy toy was her knight in shining armor, though. Catgirl Hulk had to get out of the way lest he cut her in half. The ball rolling beside them bounced and changed in midair. Power Armor clung to the side, firing blasts at the stranger. It might have seemed like the stranger was outnumbered and outmatched but she didn't seem too worried as she dodged the shots and kicked Triela near to a skidding death.

The cyborg took her eyes off the action for a second and saw a dirt cloud coming closer; a pink jeep of some sort going at a million miles an hour toward them. It rolled up next to her rig and the stranger looked at it, the top coming down to reveal a purple haired Indian girl at the wheel who beckoned her in. The blue haired badass took the leap of faith as the pink jeep smashed into a particularly sizable group of zombies, landing in the back as the roof went up. And, faster than Triela's mech could even hope to keep up, the hot pink jeep flew off at five times their speed like it was nothing.

After some drive they stopped. Triela had set the coordinates, leading them in a circuitous path so the zombie hordes couldn't follow them as easily. They had left eastern Washington and back into the mountains. Matsui was just coming to, the Shinpaku Banner having never left his hands. Triela's stomach hurt. She couldn't be sure if there was permanent damage. How would she get her bones repaired or heal properly in the apocalypse? Lilly started patching Matsui up. He had taken much worse a beating than her. She looked at the newcomers; Power Suit and Shirtless. Medli landed between Triela and them. Nobody moved

"Excuse me," Medli inquired, "Thank you for helping us but what are your names?"

The blue haired man looked back at Power Armor and smiled. "From Time eternal there has been a true man!" he called out, pointing to his chest. Power Suit held his hands up and shook them a bit for him to quiet down. "The master of battles who charms death with a smile!" It was clear, however, that he didn't care for toning down his behavior, even in zombieland He swings his sword through all obstacles, A Drill That Pierces the heavens!" He pointed the forefinger of his free hand skyward, "I'm Kamina and I represent all that is manly!" Power Suit slapped himself in the face hard with a metal clank. He shot static at them for a bit, then thumped himself on the head and trying again to no avail. The metallic hands went to the helmet, turning it slightly and drawing it off.

And the Shinpaku Alliance all were shocked to bear witness to the fact that Power Suit was a girl. Not just a girl, though, but a woman, long blond hair in a pony tail, blue eyes and red lips. "Samus Aran." She spoke, looking into Triela's eyes still.

Medli spoke with Kamina, who appeared to be the leader but Samus and Triela's eyes were locked in a steady and uncompetitive stare, pointing each other down. Triela did this with everyone and Samus seemed most serious and thus most dangerous.

But as the world dulled around her, staring intently into her eyes, taking in all she was for safety as well as curiosity, it was completely elsewhere she was taken. Samus' eyes glowed with the light of a god! Knowledge beyond Triela's wildest dreams lie within her skull. Those eyes... they had seen things Triela simply couldn't imagine... O_h my god,_ she thought as though she were being pulled bodily from her space and flung into the sky, as true space travel and crazy things like that! First Earth fell out from under her. Then The solar system zoomed away in a display of super extreme heavenly body transportation. Finally the arms of the Milky Way zipped from around her into the void. The true scale of the universe was evident to Triela when, when she though it couldn't get any bigger, It was Infinitely bigger even than that! She felt if she stared too long into these eyes, the only figure she could see when this focused being Samus, she would never come back. It was so huge, everything; it would devour her or she would be torn to pieces.

Samus' eyes stared intently into Triela's, doing the very same thing. But she must have been done with her own cursory appraisal of the cyborg already. The universe kept falling at super speed, fast-forwarding and twisting. Explosions ripped the universe apart around her at times and entire galaxies warred, smashing into each other with millions of civilizations banding together to either stop the threat of collide or to kill all factions from the opposite galaxy. Tears came to Triela's eyes. She wanted to cry but why for she couldn't know. She felt as though it were her mind running over. Then, suddenly, her handler spoke, Lilly's crystalline voice in her ears. "Triela?" The real world came back to her eyes, which were indeed shedding tears. She turned her head, Lilly's concerned eyes moving her inside, "Are you alright?" She asked

Triela popped out of her daze, straightening with a nod, "Yes Ma'am."

Lilly gave a smiled, reaching up to wipe a tear off Triela's face. "I'm glad." Triela blushed.

Samus gave a smile, never having had looked away. Matsui's astonished voice came out from the craft as he crawled out of the rigging, pulling his banner through afterward. "Who are you guys?" He asked

Samus and Kamina looked confused. Clearly HE didn't share a common language with them Medli translated and filled in the blanks for Matsui. Samus fiddled with her helmet idly.

They hunkered down for a bit. No moans currently too close. There was always the difference between moaning and close moaning echoing in her mind. Some moaners, they just moaned because that's what they did better she supposed. The quiet ones, they were the alarm squads, actually existing to alert the walking dead when needed. The moaners that moaned a lot for no reason, Triela guessed they might have been talkative people or something in their past lives, now keeping the quiet ones entertained. Conversely, maybe the loudest moaners really were the quiet ones. Maybe the constancy of their particular hellish moaning was the lament of never having said enough. Something told Triela it probably didn't matter. Then she remembered. "FUCK!" she swore loudly. Everyone looked at her. "We forgot the SUV!" She said irritated.

Kamina and Samus looked at each other and shrugged. Matsui slapped a hand against his face.

They would wait a bit. Zombies would still be all over, not safe. For a time Matsui too gave his normal staring contest. He, like Triela, started with Samus but the power armor wearing blond reacted similarly. Matsui was cowed in seconds. Perhaps it had been because he went into that well of power with the intent of a fight. Triela had stared into those eyes out of curiosity. Then he stared down Kamina, something Triela hadn't done. Kamina's bold eyes stared right back at him, a grin stretched across his face. "You got a problem buddy?"

Matsui got defensive, "Ya I got a problem. It's your ugly mug!"

"Oh ya? Well Kamina isn't gonna take that lyin down! You're ass is grass, kid!"

The fight that ensued wasn't lethal at all and largely wasted a lot of time, but was mildly impressive before Samus and Triela broke it up. The two teams parted, Samus at some point asking for Triela's radio. The young woman gave Samus the radio reluctantly and the power armored space woman snapped off the antenna and put a cap on it. "I'm channel four, always. Trans planet contact radius. Works just fine with other frequencies. Play around with it. Keep in touch."

The two parties parted. Triela was tempted to contact Samus right after they left but she knew better. This was not something she could rush. Who was Samus Aran? She couldn't shake the thoughts as she drove the circle back around to their SUV.

In Semiaghn

Night fell smoothly over Semiaghn. As Yuuko and Kaede were just coming out of their naps Kasuga Ayumu was getting done helping with schooling for zombieland children. It was a perfect job for her, as it was easy work. People had to learn to be smart in time, not immediately. What could be taught with the limited resources they had and the limited skills Osaka possessed was just fine at the moment. There were many good adults, as well that could teach, even some real teachers from before the war.

She tapped up the stairs quietly. She needed to use the toilet. The lights were off when she entered and even as she sat down. The smell of hash incensed the air. She didn't care much for the stuff but she couldn't deny it smelled pleasant. The gentle sloshing of water played on her ears. A few minutes later, lights still off, she washed her hands in a tired days from the long workday. "Ye like a towel?" A heavy Scottish man's accent asked.

"Ah, yes please." She responded, taking the towel to her right.

Then it hit her. She turned on the lights, looked to the tub some dozen feet away (Chouji built very nice bathrooms) and saw a man, nude and somewhat heavily "haired." The curtain was around enough that she didn't see anything explicit but under the brown hair that covered his body was sculpted muscle. In his hand he held the fattest cigar she had ever seen and it reeked of Cannabis. This was clearly a cigar of the greener variety. "What are ya doin in ma'h bathroom?"

"What are ye doin questionin me presence, lass?" He asked in return with a half lidded smile

She was taken aback by this. "This is ma'h home." She spoke out

The strange man waved his arm over the area of the large soaking tub. "Well this is MY home, whether ye like it 'er not." He went out of his way to over emphasize the Y in my even though it was out of his normal accent.

Osaka was so put off by this she simply walked away. She paraded through the estate, getting everyone (for once they were all not out) and the entire Legacy of Eight as well as First Citizen Miyuki stood in the deluxe bathroom. Blackstar spoke up first. "Wow are our bathrooms really this nice looking? I never noticed!" At first he looked confused but at his second sentence his teeth shone in an overjoyed smile. The bathroom was quite sizable. Chouji clearly knew his architecture to a degree that Ed's developing plumbing skills simply could not keep up with. Built in sauna. A waterfall shower system that Chouji claimed was "Just add water" but Ed struggled to work a piping system that was successful. The tub was a lot easier as if was a dozen feet lower. The mansion was just that; A Mansion! And none of its rooms showed any less of its outer appearance in quality. A goodly deal of the house was not made of wood but rare stone and other valuable and enduring mineral surfaces. This bathroom was made of what seemed Clay colored granite, the lights glowing off the walls in a strange but pleasing manner. The claw-foot tub this Stranger lay in was actually made by Chouji the day it was installed. He did it in a half an hour. Easily said, it could hold two of Chouji. The stranger could afford to have a guest and a half if he pleased. Yuko and Ed easily, Kaede and Osaka probably. Though the thought brought her face to a blush.

In the meanwhile Yuko was intrigued. Chouji was irritated. Vincent, as usual, had nothing to say. Blackstar still couldn't get over how nice the bathroom was. Finally Ed was mortified and Kaede was smiling. First Citizen Miyuki spoke on this matter. "Well first of all I'd say that this man needs relocatio-" Miyuki broke out in a cough as the stranger blew a cloud in her face so large as to cloud the room.

"Ah don't think yer getting what ah'm sayin, lass. Ye couldn't move me drivin a U-haul through a Transporter room. Doesn't work like that." He said with half lidded eyes. "Ah'm here for... somethin" He took another hit of the ornate glass pipe that had appeared from nowhere. Swirls with long fans sticking off to cover the face of the smoker. The front looked like the face of a dragon and looked like you smoked out of the back of it's skull.

"Can't somebody just tug him out." Ed asked in outrage, "Chouji's got that sort of power, right?"

Chouji bristled and then, after some moments of people staring at him, spoke up. "L-Look." he stuttered out unsure. "If indeed what he says is true... I don't want to just rip my good tub out of the ground..."

"A wise man." The stranger said with a smile

"But it doesn't mean I like it and I'll give it a try..." He finished

"Oh well that was most unwise of me to say..." The stranger said, the pipe in his hand suddenly replaced with a joint.

Chouji stepped up, grabbed the man by the arm with a single one of his. The man didn't budge. He pulled a bit harder... then stopped. "Nope, not comin out..." He said confidently, "My floor can hardly hold that lift. Just leave him there and remind me not to use this bathroom. I don't see a problem with it. I'm going to train my students..."

Ed was even more outraged. "Gods damned I'm surrounded by crazies..." She said quietly, walking off as well. Kaede gave a giggle.

Yuko sighed and shrugged. "If indeed this man is telling the truth then we have no right to move him. He exists in the framework of our destinies more than even we do."

The Scottish man nodded his head idly and smoked, "But this is ma'h bathroom!" Osaka cried out. "How am I supposed ta... You know..."

"Oh don't mind me, lassie." The Scotsman spoke, his eyes closed as he smoked. "'Gentleman knows when te keep his eyes closed."

"But what about bathin'?" She asked "And dressin and all that other stuff?"

"What else is there other that bathing and brushing your teeth and stuff in the bathroom?" Blackstar asked her, "I mean... I suppose some people brush their hair and stuff."

"Like make-up, Blackstar." Kaede said quietly. "We all know you don't care about it but some ladies do."

Blackstar's face contorted in contemplation. Vincent facepalmed. "I don't wanna see some weird naked guy every time I come into mah bathroom!" Osaka cried out.

A Cuban green cigar two fingers thick struck Kasuga Ayumu in the face. It hit her like a brick and landed on the floor completely unharmed by the collision. Dizzied, Osaka turned to the stranger to yell but he spoke first. "Ye live in a mansion, missy. This bathroom is more than big enough fer the both of us." He puffed at a similar Cuban himself. "Now Ah' don't mean to soil yer little world rulin dreams er nothin but Ah' didn't ask te be put here. Ah' died in the tub Ah'll live in it."

"Where do you... go?" Osaka asked

"Ah' don't." He responded in a pleased manner.

"What do ya eat?" She asked

"Ah' don't." he responded similarly

"Well I suppose that makes him an easy house mate." Yuko spoke up. "One way or another, this isn't a very bad problem. We just have to be mindful there's a man in our bathroom who can magically produce a brogue and cannabis. I don't have a problem with it." She leaned closer, eyes closed, lips in a smile. "And that smells like such a lovely strain too! You simply must tell me the methods it was grown."

"The trick is to grow it on clouds." Yuko's voice rang out in amazement, "Can't be in 'em though, gotta be right on the top. All that lower, cooler depths just don't do it justice."

"You don't say?" She responded merrily. "It's so simple I never would have thought! Oh I must go record this and test it out!" She scurried off, leaving one less person in the bathroom. "Ya'll should git out now too. You too lassie, we'll talk later. Ye got visitors.

Vash, quiet through the whole time, almost like a background, slipped out silently. He seemed in a thinking mood. Osaka begrudgingly left. Nobody knew why they didn't question it but, sure enough, an alarm rung loud from outside soon as any of them got close to any windows. Vincent took flight through the nearest window, getting a bird's eye view on things. In the distance a dust cloud, trees exploding into the air with wild disregard for the laws of physics. "A car?" he spoke to himself. It was hot pink.

The thing roared up on his presence as he hit the ground, rolling out of the way. The hood came down into the back and two women stood. One had short hair of deep purple. A woman who looked Indian in descent. The other had blue hair, cat ears and tail. The most bulky collar ever made lay around her neck. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." The Indian girl spoke softly as she stood in the vehicle.

Vincent stood irritated. The blue haired woman stood and tripped, falling face first in the dirt. She seemed weak at the moment. Nonetheless she pulled herself up and reached into the back of the gigantic hot pink jeep. Out she pulled a rod of metal, gigantic and heavy, lifting it easily with one hand out and onto a shoulder. "Who are you and what are you doing in Semiaghn?" Vincent asked

"Is that the name of this village. My apologies. My name is Himemiya Anthy and this is Karura. She has no family name." The woman was smiling sweetly at him but Vincent couldn't tell if it was expert facade of situational innocence. "And my car is See-Through." She wore a pair of cutoff jeans, ragged but wearable, and a t-shirt which seemed a bit over-sized for her. She had mismatched stockings, one perfectly black and another striped; blue and black.

Vash arrived on the scene to respond to it. Vincent hadn't heard or seen him coming but he was once again wearing his happy messenger of love and peace mask again... "Welcome to Semiaghn, young ladies! I am the almighty Messenger Of Love And Peace, who smiles upon goddesses of all cultures and welcomes even the devil himself with open compassionate arms; Vash The Stampede. As usual Vincent noticed he wouldn't be needed in this affair. This all seemed to be giving the two a good giggle but it wasn't the place for Vincent.

All of the other Legacy of eight, save Osaka, were developing their branch of this new world. Yuuko and Chouji had jumped on their organizations early; Nexus and Sekai Mae No Obake respectively. Already Yuuko had three apprentices, Chouji four. Kaede silently gathered children in the night and ferried them off. Vincent didn't officially know, of course, but he did his fare share of research, all the time he had. He wasn't old enough to start missing things. The zombies that loomed just through the valleys did not pose threat just yet to Semiaghn. Maybe in a few months, even as little as a few weeks but certainly not today. He would have been able to hear moaning in the distance.

But what did he stand to add to the mix that was helpful and not yet covered. He had worked many jobs but the bottom line was he was good at science and fighting, with guns and otherwise but best with the guns. And he didn't feel like making his particular branch of the government scientific in design. They had two scientific divisions already planned out. It was more or less how it was meant to be via the UCOE. Ed and Osaka got science. They were the most focused for it. Vincent didn't mind lending a hand to any of the Legacy for just about anything. He wouldn't mind helping Ed from time to time with science stuff but he would also help Chouji with his apprentices (and sometimes he even enjoyed). Yet there was no ideal place for him. Osaka would become the teacher, they all knew this even if they hadn't spoken of it. Ed would be the proprietor. She had already started setting up her own establishment in the basement.

So what could Vincent become to help the New World?

He noted Kaede and Yuuko parting. Kaede dashed off and Yuuko stayed. Yuuko walked some ways and stood waiting. Vincent stepped up to her. "Yuuko?" He spoke. Like Vincent Yuuko was a lot older than the rest of the Legacy Of Eight. They were all children... save for perhaps Vash but he was just fine keeping his real identity hidden beneath showy acts of love and peace. Nothing they could do or say would lead him away from it.

Yuuko looked over to him, unsurprised. She never got surprised, it seemed. "Do you need something?"

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting."

"We've just gotten guests. They're back at the Capital proper." He told her.

"I am aware of them. I wait for someone else." She replied.

"Whom?" he asked

Yuuko held up the pouch that Kaede had brought her, the wheat inside. "Whomsoever is the owner of this wheat will want it back." She told him, "I am here to give it to them when they come to claim it." The night was slowly falling. Yuuko didn't move. Vincent waited with her. "I will be fine, if you are troubled," She told him

He shook his head. About time he chanced to help Yuuko with her activities. She didn't really talk and neither did he. It suited him. She continued to stare into the darkening sky, as if whatever she was waiting for would just drop from it. In reality it was more mundane than that.

A low growl reached his ears. It rumbled in the air around him, charging it. Whether you believed in magical mumbo jumbo in the sense that Kaede and Yuuko used it or not there was a presence without even seeing this being that alerted Vincent to it. And it was so heavy. Vincent had fought many things but this would be in the stronger category by far. There was wisdom untold in the darkness just beyond his sight.

Time and space seemed to warp for a moment. Vincent wasn't used to it but Yuuko stood as straight as anyone could with the world fluctuating about her. Vincent fought the urge to draw his gun, fire it off; for comfort if anything. "Someone is stepping into this reality..." She spoke out to him, "Possibly against their will. They are the owner of this wheat, this pouch." She held the pouch out in front of her.

The growl grew louder. A hole that he knew was there but could not see formed in front of them. The snout of a colossal wolf stuck out. Ten men could mount it and half elbow room and space for packs if he guessed by the size of the face alone. The head snarled out, the shadow creeping off it slowly as it came.

Then something he did not expect. The wolf, still walking into reality, changed. It went from the gigantic wolf, teeth sixteen or more inches in length, enough to snap Yuuko's head right off, to a woman; half a foot above five feet with long red hair and long wolf ears or similar color. The biggest fluffy wolf tail switched behind her as she completed her step into reality. She stood nude, modest breasts upon her chest, a form unimpressive to look on but with its own attractive points that could be used in social encounters. "You have something of mine." She spoke with a half smile.

"I do," Yuuko spoke with a similar smirk, handing the pouch to the wolf. "We got it just this morning."

"Then I owe you a favor." She told the Dimensional Witch. "This bag of wheat is far more important to me than you might think."

"I don't think we need necessarily speak of it right here and now." Yuuko said, drawing her pipe and loading it, taking a hit from it after she spoke, "Why not come to our home?"

Vincent blinked and the scene changed again. It was back to the guest wolf he had ever seen. Yuuko's form was a swirling vortex of energy but plants grew from its depths en mass, too much for the whirling rainbow pattern to pull back in. Could he trust his eyes, he wondered. Did the forms they took really look like that or did you have to actively look to see them? Either way his hand hovered above his gun. He didn't like it. It all seemed too large even for him. "Is this some sort of trap?" The wolf asked, similar voice, if a bit more ominous; the voice of a mature woman with experiences.

"Oh no trap I assure you." Yuuko maintained, "May I inquire your name?"

The wolf snarled, "This is a dangerous game." Yuuko made a satisfied noise. "Why are you so friendly to me, one who knows who I must be?"

"Because it is my job." Yuuko responded, "My name is Ichihara Yuuko." O_f course it is an alias._ She thought. Had it always been? She couldn't quite ever recall anymore.

"I am Horo, The Wise Wolf." Horo spoke back to her

"Allow us please to come to my office." Yuuko spoke. "While we didn't quite know how to receive you I believe I know what will suit your needs. Do you drink?"

"I could go for some beer." The wolf spoke, following the Dimensional Witch. Vincent followed close behind.

"Oh I'm so glad." Yuuko said exclaimed happily, "We'll get along swimmingly. Vincent, where are your manners? Lend the lady your cloak?"

This caught him off guard. He stripped his cloak and handed it off. The wolf took it in tooth delicately and swung it back and... Yuuko stood in her beautiful gown of black velvet with rubied stitched in. Horo stood nude under his cloak, the redhead again. He blinked and followed. "Where is this place?" Horo asked looking about, "I know nothing of its scent."

"You walk outside Semiaghn, the capital of the New World, Horo." Yuuko spoke, "This world is full of the walking dead. Zombies have plagued humanity for years. We are just trying to survive and form order in an unbiased way. Under which you fall to Nexus, my organization, to handle. We deal with the more... enlightened beings, such as yourself." Yuuko looked back, "It's a shame the other well aged men here are based around fighting and showboating," She spoke as if Vincent weren't present. It annoyed him but he said nothing of it. Horo gave a titter.

Before long they walked through the estate, into Yuuko's room. Vincent was left at the door. Yuuko and Horo walked in. She lay down on her bed, this time a bed of cushions in the back center of the room, all stonework and heavy wooden doors. This was the scenario Horo knew of; European castle designs and wooden buildings for the smallfolk; medieval Europe. Alda and Porthi rushed in and placed cushions under Horo so she would not want for comfort, brought good clothing, at least good enough, so that their guest would be able to hold a woman's modesty in such a meeting.

"Porthi," Yuuko spoke up, "Be a dear and bring the stuff we finished three weeks ago, the extra dark. I have a thirst and our guest should not want for quality."

"Yes Mistress." She spoke up quickly, rushing off behind a heavy wooden door.

"One keeps proper servants, at least?" Horo noted with a smirk. "Would you be so kind as to clear the tables for me. The Wise Wolf does not forget her dues."

Yuuko cracked a grin and smoked. Porthi only then arrived with then beer, pouring it in large wooden tankards for the two of them. Like the room itself, every dish and cup changed with the room to fit the scenario that the customer was most comfortable in. Horo didn't yet drink. "Well I would believe serving you this fine." Yuuko drank deep from the tankard and Porthi topped it off, "Fine beer is on me." She drank again. Horo, satisfied with at least this much, drank as well, giving a pleased squeal of delight at the flavor. "Returning you the pouch, however, is indeed at a price."

Horo's eyes hardened mid swallow. She placed her mug down. "What is the service I must be held to?"

"Must be a very important thing." Yuuko said idly, staring off. Porthi had filled her beer again once more. Yuuko really did have quite the thirst this day. But the apprentice could not be bothered to stay long. She had left two pitchers; the thick beer near black in the thick, ruddy glass.

"It is." Horo said blandly, drinking more. "In fact I couldn't be here right now without it."

"So the price is going to be steep." Yuuko said with abandon.

"What can I give to you?"

"Not what but how long..." Yuuko corrected her. Horo's ears flicked, confused, "At this point in time we need, more than anything, services. You have them and there must be equivalence. That being the case, what we need from you is not difficult. Nexus provides benefits if you lend your power to me. You will not be attacked by the people. They will revere you."

"As they should, my status involved." She said haughtily

Yuuko smiled. She was no stranger to the divine. This was a real life god she spoke to. She hadn't made this one. Chances were she had been around longer than Yuuko. "But for some decades at least you will serve the betterment of the common people."

Horo flicked her ears. Tail twitched behind her in contemplation as she drank. "I suppose I could be troubled to stagnate for a few decades. No more than fifty years."

And here was where it always started. From there they worked a complex duel of haggling in years of service. In the end both parties knew it was all just preference. Yuuko and Horo's lives were both eternal. A few hundred years was a nice weekend at the beach. But gods did love their vacation time and even a few decades of stagnation really bored an almighty being half to death. They craved outstanding individuals to entertain them,. Fortunately Horo was in Semiaghn, where those individuals were writing history in a world that had always thought their powers from a story book.

Eventually they settled on eighty solid years to fully make up the value of the wheat pouch. Horo would guarantee good harvest, at least for grains. She would protect from Zombies and wildlife, leading her own packs and sculpting the woods with her presence. When needed she would provide advice even to the smallfolk, who would in turn bring her offerings. Nexus would be setting up the ideal of god worship in a more tangible sense, of course. These mortals weren't as fearful as the average garden variety. They didn't have to be extreme offerings, though Horo made it known she did smile upon nice gifts.

As with many gods there was a lot of entitlement involved. Horo believed very much that her very presence was a blessing to everyone who could look upon her. In fact to some even in the Legacy she might as well be a curse. Chouji or Kaede, Yuuko or Vash perhaps, Horo was an intriguing reality that added spice. Vincent, however, had an itchy trigger finger. If he had reacted a little more favorably Yuuko would have invited him in but he had near blown her head off when they first met. Yuuko didn't want him around her as often just yet. Let him cool with some time. After sorting through this and that Yuuko got it across to Horo that, in this world, the gods had already given up. She would have to understand the majority of the population if they didn't throw themselves at her feet. She seemed to get it after some coaxing but, as always, any god would hold onto their ego.

The rest of the night was drinking and eating fresh fruit, which was Horo's favorite type of food, ironically enough.

Meanwhile, in the very same mansion, Osaka sighed in her room. It was... to say the least, very plain. She had set it up like any old apartment room. Admittedly it was much larger, just the room and its rooms, than the apartment she had been living in. The bathroom had the bathing stranger, who she still couldn't get the name of. She was still the only normal person there. She had to decide what she would give to the people... but she had failed as a teacher.

A reassuring hand touched on her shoulder. She turned around on her bed, looked up. A blond man, 5'9", blue eyes, full body blue jumpsuit with a strange thing on his arm smiled apologetically from beside her bed. She flinched back and he waved his hands in the air assuringly. "Wh-Who are you?" She asked

he spoke but no sound came out. He smiled apologetically again. With a point to his watch... thing, he indicated the letters spelling: PipBoy. So he was Pip Boy? The PipBoy... He nodded, as if reading her mind. "Whatya do?" She asked him.

He gave a grin and then proceeded to do all sorts of things; take out a tommy gun and fire it around, blow his head off and come back, cook up a meal from a fire that didn't burn, walk on the walls and ceiling, juggle very accurately, make a plasma rifle and he really impressed her with a jig. "How do ya do all that?" She asked, standing and clapping, forgetting entirely that some of his things defied her definition of physics.

He indicated the watch-thing; The PipBoy 3000. Upon pulling her attention from it she noted he had another in his opposite hand. He handed it to her and pointed to the inside of it. It read:

_Congratulations on receiving your very own PipBoy 3000! It's the only PipBoy the PipBoy himself will wear! This baby'll last thousands of years longer than the latest model! With The PipBoy 3000 you'll find yourself tangibly locked to the spectrum, always learning and improving, gaining perks and skills galore! When you put on the PipBoy the rules of life will matter less. When in times of need, just look at the PipBoy 3000 and the answers will become clear! Experimentation Necessary but No Harm no foul, Right? Enjoy!_

Osaka was dumbfounded but, as soon as she looked up to ask what all of this meant, the PipBoy was gone. She slid her arm into the strap of the PipBoy experimentally and it tightened around her forearm, refusing to come off afterward. It was a clunky piece of junk, or so looked like, but Osaka noticed it start to change as she fiddled with it; getting smaller, smoother. The screen was already tall and wide and it did a bit of shrinking but the definition got better. The whole think got smaller and sleeker as a whole. It fit on her arm well now. Osaka still couldn't get it off.

She walked into the bathroom, turning on the lights. The Bathtub Stranger made a noise of inquiry, smoking at a long wizard pipe. Osaka grabbed a paid of scissors and tried to cut at the strap but the scissors didn't stand a chance. Funny, it felt just fine on her arm. She hardly noticed it if she didn't want to but she wanted it off nonetheless. "'Eh lassie, Yer gonna break the poor thing." He said, stirring in the tub, leaning over the edge. "How bout yeh jus' smoke a bit and git te bed?"

Osaka looked at the stranger. "But 'ah can't get it off!" She said

He gave a sigh and took a hit. "A'right, don't panic, now. Just take a look at it and see what i's for."

Osaka did so and the world stopped around her, her eyes locked to the panel. She looked back up but the world came back to motion. The stranger talked for a bit but she looked back down at the screen. The world stopped again. He should have been talking still and Osaka didn't feel like things had slowed down but they had indeed, to a standstill. She looked through the options. Some were simple, her belongings menu. All of her clothing and the items on her person; pipe, lighter, bag (she didn't use those much) pencil, outfit, etc. She found out how much she could feasibly carry. It seemed an accurate number. What sort of condition her equipment was in; Her pipe was in perfect condition so the bar was full. Her clothing was a bit grubby and sort of tearing up so it was three quarters full in the bar. Her pencil was half gone, so half full and so on. The menus in her belongings were simple: Weapons – Apparel – Aid – Misc – Ammo – Other

Then she found some more foreign things; statistics, experience, Skill lists, Perks (Hers had a "Processing" in the screen) It all confused her. Seemed too much like a video game... she didn't really go for those, either. Really it all seemed like something Ed would be more inclined for. On the skill lists her "Science" skill listed off as 22. The rest of her stats were pending.

After a bit of toying around and discovering things about this new thing on her arm she finally took her gaze away. The stranger resumed talking about new things and the time needed to look them over before you used them. Osaka shrugged in awe and sat on the toilet to think. It wouldn't really get in the way. After changing from the old, clunky model it had become very streamlined. She looked back at it and the world stood still once more. _How time efficient_ she thought with humor. She toyed with some of the buttons for a while. The statistics started filling themselves in as time went by. Combat statistics and physical abilities were nill. Her intelligence was higher than average but nothing special. Luck was displayed as an abnormally high score; a 9. But, in the Perks section she had something called "Uncanny Misfortune," where her luck sometimes backlashed, though it said she was "more prone to advantageous random encounters."

She didn't get it all. But, after some tinkering, it told her that she had leveled up. A new screen opened, one that showed her the skills she had. Some of them were blank but she would make due. She chose a couple points in medicine, couple points in acrobatics, couple points in lockpicking and a couple more in sneaking. Finally she poured five points into guns. She supposed if she was going to be in some crazy video game, or if this worked like it, then she would want some gun skills. She supposed she'd have time to work it all out. She looked back at the stranger.

"So what am 'ah s'posed ta call you?" She asked

"Whatever ya like, Lass." he said, smoking from the old dragon head pipe. Osaka didn't have much a taste for Cannabis. She just didn't like it. Didn't smoke when people encouraged her to, didn't smoke back where nobody saw. She didn't like how it made her cough. Didn't mind the smell but didn't like the cough.

She eventually named him Tsukaru. "Good as any." He told her. His name meant bathe (as in to bathe) anyway. He didn't even seem to like a name at all but he understood how Osaka needed to call him something other than "Man in the tub."

She spoke to him, despite the strangeness of his nudity, his presence in her tub. She gave a cough at some point, a tickle in her throat. "So what do ya do?" She asked him

"Smoke, contemplate... chill..." He shrugged in the tub and offered her a blunt, which she politely turned down and coughed again. "Sounds like a bug, Lass. Ye should get some more rest."

She shook her head. "I'm about to go to sleep anyway..." She said, sniffling "And I need to help with Semiaghn."

"Even kings fall of sickness." he said plainly, smoking from his blunt. "Ye got a luxury in the fact that there are seven other people who rule, all of which like ye. None of which want te kill ye. Some kings would have murdered their whole line for that privilege."

Osaka didn't care for the reference, no matter how good it was. That tickle at the back of her throat wouldn't leave. She gave a healthy cough, spit out the crud in her throat. Just made her want to cough more, though. She wandered around the mansion for a bit before she went to bed. Maybe a good walk to rouse her body would kick out that tickle. By the time she returned to her room, though, she felt even worse. Eventually she crawled back into bed.

And when she woke in the morning she could scarce breath. She struggled to sit up and the world spun sickeningly. She sluggishly rose for the bathroom, ignoring Tsukaru. She felt completely miserable. He spoke to her in surprise when she sat down. "Lass ye look horrible!" He exclaimed. "'Ah hope ye won't jus' be workin like that. I's dangerous, yer sick!"

Osaka shook her head as she wandered to the sink to wash her hands. "Need ta... Help S-Semiaghn..." She mumbled through the dryest throat she'd ever had, bare a whisper in her own ears., wandering out of the bathroom.

"Lass, lass! Don't go! Drink some water, anythin!" He leaned over the claw foot tub after her, though of course couldn't rise to get her. "Ye know this isn't good for ye!"

his voice was so loud in the back of her head, though, she didn't want to pay attention to him. She'd only known him for a day and she didn't feel like new friends. She just wanted her old ones back in hr old world with a normal life instead of zombies and magic and super science. The world fuzzed out as Tsukaru cried from the bathroom. She felt her face touch the cool floor. Tsukaru's yelling continued. She slipped back into unconsciousness.

When she opened her eyes the room was full of fog, that skunky vapor she was getting used to. Just the presence made her cough, or was that the illness. She stirred, looking at the screen of her PipBoy. The world around her stopped. The status screen indicated she was, in fact, very ill. Her need for sleep (The PipBoy seemed to have a sleep gauge, a thirst gauge and a hunger gauge) was getting higher by the second, if only just.

Someone put water on her chest and her hands found strength to hold it. A gentle voice spoke to her ears, Kaede's. "Drink slowly. You don't want to choke." She didn't care. She swallowed greedily and the water caught her throat. She coughed for a bit. A cool, damp cloth touched her mouth. "See, here, take this." her pipe was put in her hand. She gave her head a weak shake.

A new voice reached her ears, one deep and gruff. It was Chouji's. "Odd as it sounds, smoking will help you, Osaka." He told her. More clouds of smoke surrounded her. "The herb acts as an expectorate. We don't have fancy pharmaceuticals or elixirs to help you. This will clear your lungs through the coughing and spitting."

Begrudgingly she took a hit and coughed hard. Her throat burned and her nose ran. That cool, damp cloth always brushed over her face, clearing away the gunk. _Kaede and Chouji would make good parents_, she thought to herself at some point. "It's about time she took one." Yuuko's deep feminine voice echoed in her mind. Osaka remembered to take another hit. After a shorter coughing fit she felt miraculously better, though still very sick, and fell asleep again.

Several times she woke and stirred, each a little better. Each time she was coaxed to smoke more, drink smoke more water maybe eat a bit of food; some rice or noodles. Each time she smoked her throat hurt less and her lungs felt better. "She looks like death warmed over." She heard Vincent say once when she couldn't be sure if she was awake or asleep.

"Hey, she's lookin a little extra stuffed, guys..." Blackstar's voice rung out in concern after some time. She couldn't breath again, this time it was more literal. "Holy shit, she's choking!"

She flailed and coughed and turned. A strong pair of hands held her on her side and she coughed out a ball of something that had been blocking the way. "Ya..." Ed's voice sounded. "That's really gross... Somebody take this away... Get Kaede and Chouji."

Her eyes opened again after a time. Her lungs felt surprisingly clear. Her nose was still a bit stuffy but her throat was only a bit sore. She felt slimy all over, inside and out. Her body was covered in sweat. "Looks like the fever broke." Yuuko's voice echoed. She sat next to Osaka's bed on a chair reading a book and smoking. The entire room was clouds, moving from place to place. "I'm glad. We should get these sheets changed. How do you feel?"

"Thirsty..." She said with a dry throat. Yuuko handed her a glass of water and she drank of it. It was like drinking life. All of the sudden, that little bit of water made her feel worlds better. Yuuko gave her her pipe, the oblong thing made of all sorts of shapes slapped together, full of deep green bud. Osaka smoked slowly as Yuuko attended to her needs. Every now and then she would cough but largely she lay in bed still, drinking water and getting guests. Blackstar came in and started a "party bowl" on account of Osaka getting better. Yuuko gladly took part in it but Kasuga Ayumu politely turned it down. Her head was swimming from the constant use already. She didn't have the tolerance to smoke like Yuuko or Blackstar.

Chouji and Kaede came later, all quiet smiles and parental presence. Kaede even doted on Osaka a little. Chouji maintained a quiet presence, strong appearance and stern behavior. He gave a smile whenever Osaka's vision passed over him. They filled the room with smoke again, fed Osaka (she finally had a good appetite) and smoked her out more. She stood shakily, stepped into the bathroom. Tsukaru gave a her a smile and a joint. She thanked him, smoked it while she sat. It wasn't so bad, now that she tried it. The burn and cough went away shortly after she told herself it would. The high that came along afterward left her giggling, uncaring to the last vestiges of her sickness. She felt new and fresh again! It was funny to think that a thing she had known as some illegal narcotic in her country was such a harmless thing as this. Five years maximum prison for any of it back home and here it had gotten her over a sickness as only it could here in the New World.

And Ed had been around to see it all happen, this crazy hippy junk infect the simple and ordinary mind of Kasuga Ayumu. Now she had become one of them, these druggies and crazies... she was the only person left who could be considered even marginally normal! She felt... alone...

{HR}


End file.
